An Unlikely Friendship
by serendipitous-15
Summary: A series of one-shots and drabbles chronicling Tony and Jimmy's friendship from 'Hiatus' to the end of season six.
1. The Beginning

**A/N: Not mine, NCIS and its characters belong to CBS and Don Bellisario, I'm just borrowing them for the time being.**

_So I was just so amused by the scene with Jimmy and Tony in 'Bounce' that I decided to create a background for the friendship that we saw there. This will be a series of one-shots and drabbles placed between 'Hiatus' and 'Aliyah', specific spoiler warnings will be placed in appropriate chapters.  
_

_Spoilers: Hiatus_

_Setting: After 'Hiatus', beginning of Tony's tenure as team leader._

_All mistakes are mine._

_

* * *

_

The first time Palmer helped him it was purely by accident, Tony had gone down to autopsy under the pretense of needing to ask Ducky something when in reality all he wanted was a break from his team. _His _team. Nearly three weeks into his tenure as team leader and Tony was still having trouble wrapping his head around the concept, he was still expecting Gibbs to come stalking into the bullpen, coffee in hand, and he knew that he wasn't the only one. He couldn't blame them; not really, especially when he wanted Gibbs back too but did they have to fight him every step of the way? He wasn't Gibbs and Tony knew that trying to even fill Gibbs' shoes halfway would be a hard job but he _really was_ trying his best, he just wished that everyone else could see that. After the pressurized doors to autopsy opened Tony scanned the room looking for Ducky but found it completely empty. Jimmy Palmer walked out of the office and stopped when he noticed Tony, clearly confused as to why the agent was here.

"Is there something I can do for you, Tony?"

"I was just actually looking for Ducky, have you seen him?"

"Dr. Mallard had to go home suddenly, apparently his mother has harassed her temporary nurse so much today that the woman threatened to leave immediately if he didn't go home at once," replied Jimmy as he placed the paperwork on Ducky's desk.

"Oh," said Tony desperately trying to keep the disappointment from his voice. He had been hoping to get some advice from the elderly medical examiner. Often times the advice that Tony would seek would come in the form of a story but Tony didn't mind, he liked hearing Ducky's stories. "Do you know when he'll be back?"

"Um, he really didn't say, I think that he thought it best to figure out how to keep the nurse from leaving before coming back."

Tony nodded and turned to leave, resigned to the fact that he'd have to go back to bullpen and probably to another battle of wills with his team but Palmer's voice stopped him.

"Is it something that I can help you with, Tony?"

Tony only had to think about it for less than a second before answering. "Yeah, I just need a place to think for ten minutes or so."

"Well, you could use the couch in Dr. Mallard's office; I'll just be out here doing paperwork anyway."

"Cool, thanks, Palmer."

* * *

Jimmy had been walking towards the interrogation rooms looking for Tony when the other man suddenly appeared and pulled him into the stairwell. A bewildered Jimmy looked at him but before he could ask Tony what he was doing Tony beat him to it.

"So, what've you got, Palmer?" asked Tony in a slightly irritated tone.

"The preliminary autopsy report, Dr. Mallard was looking for you upstairs but he couldn't find you so I said that I'd try to track you down. By the way, why aren't you upstairs with your team anyway?"

"Because, Palmer, I'm trying to _avoid_ them," Tony replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Ah, so it was one of _those_ days. Well, it would explain why both McGee and Ziva had been in a bad mood and Agent Lee had looked terrified when he and Dr. Mallard had returned with their newest guest. At that moment Jimmy wished that Dr. Mallard was here talking with Tony but unfortunately he would have to do; it wouldn't do anyone any good if Tony was still in a foul mood when he got back to the bullpen because Tony could be as much of a bastard as Gibbs if he wanted to be.

"What happened?"

Apparently that was all that Tony needed before he launched in what happened after they had left the crime scene. The reason behind Tony's foul mood wasn't much of a surprise; he and Dr. Mallard had seen the start of the fight as they were preparing their dead petty officer for transport. Jimmy wondered how much longer they could go on butting heads like that; he even mentioned his concern to Dr. Mallard. Dr. Mallard had, in turn, told Jimmy about the struggles Agent Gibbs went through the first few months after his mentor, Mike Franks, had quit and Agent Gibbs had been given his own team and assured him that Tony would eventually find his own footing, just like Agent Gibbs did. After about ten minutes Tony seemed to be finishing up his story and Jimmy thought that now would be a good time to interrupt him, Dr. Mallard was probably wondering where he had disappeared off to and come looking for him himself.

"So, feel better?" asked Jimmy hoping that Tony really did feel better because he'd really like to get out of the stairwell and back to autopsy where he could get Dr. Mallard to talk to Tony later on that day.

"Surprisingly enough, I do."

"So, does that mean we can get out of the stairwell now?"

* * *

"Explain to me why we're in the evidence garage again."

Tony thinks about it briefly before answering the younger man. He's still not exactly sure why but when he had run into that dead end instead of calling Ducky he had called Palmer. Ducky would have been the more obvious choice what with his vast degree of knowledge on just about every subject that Tony could think of plus years of experience as an ME and working with Gibbs to solve crimes but in his mind Ducky would always be Gibbs' confidant. Thinking back to the last two times he had encountered Palmer he had found him to be a good listener and actually quite perceptive, in addition, Palmer was the only besides Ducky who didn't constantly remind him that he wasn't Gibbs. Did they think he was stupid? Of course he wasn't Gibbs, he was Tony and was it so wrong if Tony had actually picked up on some of Gibbs' habits? He had been working with the man for four years, after all.

"This is what we've compiled of the Everett case so far," he said gesturing to the manila folder laying on the table in front of them, "I know that the answer is right there but I just can't _see_ it," Tony finished in a frustrated tone. The Everett case was his first major homicide as team lead and after two weeks of investigating they had hit a dead end with no clue where to go from there.

"Mind if I take a look?"

"Go ahead, maybe a fresh pair of eyes will catch something we missed," answered Tony as he watched the other man bypass the preliminary and final autopsy reports, he probably knew those by heart anyway. Instead he looked over the written notes that Tony had compiled and on the third page he paused and reread a section before speaking.

"Have you talked to her?"

"Who?" asked Tony as Palmer placed the page between them so that Tony could get a better look.


	2. Basketball

_Yup, still not mine._

_So I'm glad that people are enjoying this and I too think that Jimmy stories are severely lacking, hopefully Jimmy will have a bigger role next season because I adore him and I would love to see more scenes between Tony and Jimmy like we had in 'Bounce'._

_Setting: Between 'Hiatus' and 'Shalom'_

_Spoilers: Slight spoilers to 'Hiatus'_

_

* * *

_Jimmy Palmer blinked owlishly at one Tony DiNozzo, not really understanding what the older man was doing at his front door with a basketball. They had spent more time in the NCIS building than their own homes for the better part of the last three weeks and tempers that were already short due to Agent Gibbs' abrupt departure had been getting shorter before the director had finally stepped in and told Tony, McGee, Ziva and Lee that she didn't want to see them in the building until Monday. The last time Jimmy had seen Tony was shortly after a meeting with the director and the other man had looked, for the lack of a better word, frazzled. Jimmy was sure that whatever plans Tony had for his first free weekend since shortly after Agent Gibbs left would not include seeing or hanging out with his coworkers so what was he doing standing in the doorway to Jimmy's apartment? Better yet, how did Tony even know where he lived?

"So are you gonna to let me in or what?"

"Uh, yeah, sorry," answered Jimmy moving aside so that Tony could make his way into his apartment.

"Nice place you've got here, Palmer," commented Tony as he looked around before making a beeline to some pictures arranged on the one free shelf of his bookcase.

"Thanks. Um, not that I mind the company or anything but why are you here and why do you have a basketball anyway?"

"You can't play basketball without a basketball, Palmer," he answered without looking up from the photos that had caught his eye from the moment he had walked into the living room. Of course Jimmy knew that but what he still didn't get was what Tony was doing here at his home with a basketball. "Say, is this your nephew?" asked Tony pointing to the picture of Kevin that his sister had sent him just last month.

Jimmy blinked at the sudden change of the direction their conversation had taken before getting closer to see the picture. "Yeah, that's Kevin, my sister, Lauren, emailed me that photo last month."

"Cute kid," he said placing the frame back in its rightful place on the shelf. "As to why I'm here, it's cause of the kid."

Jimmy blinked, okay now he was definitely lost.

"Didn't you say that your sister and your nephew were coming to visit next week?"

"Yeah," he said still confused. What did a visit by his sister and nephew have to do with Tony's visit?

"You mentioned that Kevin was a basketball fan," Tony replied as it if that explained everything. It honestly didn't. Tony sighed; obviously Palmer was a bit slow on the uptake today. "You said that your basketball skills were kind of rusty," he said finally stating what he was doing at the younger man's apartment on a Saturday morning.

"I did?"

"Yeah, you did, during the Merri case."

"But that was like two weeks ago," Jimmy said surprised. He honestly didn't remember telling Tony that he was a bit rusty at basketball but apparently the other man had remembered and he was touched that Tony would give up his Saturday morning to help him.

Tony shrugged, he liked Palmer and helping make sure that he didn't get creamed by a seven-year-old was the least he could do. The young assistant had, after all, been there for Tony when he needed someone to vent to or to bounce ideas off of.

"So is there a court near by?"

"Yeah, there's one ten minutes from here, let me get changed and then we can go."

Two hours later both men were exhausted but they had obviously enjoyed themselves. Tony was pleasantly surprised to find that Palmer wasn't as bad at basketball as he had initially thought; actually, he was pretty good and Tony made a mental note to invite him along the next time some of the other agents or his frat buddies had game. For his part Jimmy had a great time with Tony and he happily noted that half an hour into their impromptu game Tony had stopped going easy on him.

"Not bad, Palmer," said Tony, "you know, sometimes some of the other agents and I get together for a game when we have some downtime you should totally come by sometime."

"You mean it?"

"Yup."

"Thanks, Tony," Jimmy said as a smile spread across his face.

The two remained silent for awhile enjoying the companionable silence, something that still surprised Jimmy. Tony was known for his ability to talk about just about anything; in fact, Ziva and McGee often complained that the senior agent _couldn't_ stay quiet, always having to fill the silence so who would have thought that Tony actually did enjoy comfortable silences?

"There is one thing I'm curious about though," said Jimmy breaking the silence.

"Hm, what's that?"

"How'd you find out where I live? I don't think I ever told you."

"You didn't."

"Then how?"

"I'm a trained investigator, Palmer," deadpanned Tony.

Jimmy arched an eyebrow, while he was sure that Tony was more than capable of using his investigative skills to find his address he was pretty sure that there was more to it than Tony was letting on.

"Okay fine, I asked Marci down in personnel."

"Is she the one who's—"

"Yup, that's her," Tony replied with a slight grin.


	3. Close Calls

_Yup, still not mine._

Setting: between 'Hiatus' and 'Shalom'

Spoilers: none really.

* * *

The elevator had barely started to move before Tony slammed the emergency stop and slowly slid down to the floor, the day's events finally catching up with him. It was supposed to be a simple call, they had cleared the warehouse and just begun documenting the scene when one of their suspects had returned the warehouse unexpectedly and took one look at them before opening fire. Tony found himself quickly ducking for cover near Ziva and when he managed to get a good enough look around he found McGee and Michelle Lee close to each other. If Tony thought that seeing his co-workers get injured on the job or stuck in a dangerous situation was nerve-wracking as the senior field agent it was nothing compared to the all-out fear he felt when he saw McGee get hit and Lee freezing up for just a second before returning fire. Once the suspect was incapacitated Tony wasted no time running towards his junior agents and when he got there he found Lee white as a sheet and McGee a cross between shaken and put out that the bullet had grazed his arm. If close calls could elicit this much terror in him then he didn't even want to think about what a basket case he would have been if someone had actually gotten shot. No wonder Gibbs drank bourbon. Tony was not really a fan of bourbon but right now he could really use some. After a couple more minutes Tony had regained his some of his composure and his hands had stopped visibly shaking for the most part but he still made no move to get off the floor much less start the elevator. He knows that the rest of the building has gotten used to having the elevator be accessible all the time now that Gibbs isn't around using it as his own private office but Tony's not ready to face the rest of the world at the moment, he's still trying to sort himself out. Finally after a few deep breaths he starts the elevator again, when the doors open Tony finds himself looking up at one very surprised Jimmy Palmer and Tony belatedly realizes that he had unconsciously pushed the button for autopsy when he had first gotten in the elevator.

Jimmy had been intent on seeing how McGee was but then the elevator doors opened and Jimmy found himself staring down at Tony and any thoughts about seeing McGee were put on hold. He tentatively stepped into the elevator cab and gently hauled up his friend before leading into autopsy, it was a testament to how much the day's events had shaken Tony that he didn't try to resist Jimmy's assistance. Jimmy had seen Tony, on numerous occasions, still insist on walking unaided when he was practically unconscious and usually it ended with Agent Gibbs just rolling his eyes and then dragging Tony behind him into autopsy. After making sure that Tony is seated he turns and walks to the cabinet where Dr. Mallard keeps some scotch, for a moment he wonders how mad the elderly medical examiner will be if he finds out about this but then thinks that he would understand Jimmy's reasoning probably wouldn't be too mad at him. He hands a glass to Tony, which he downs in one gulp and then the two sit in silence while Jimmy waits for Tony to say something. He's learned that when there's something bothering the older man it's best to let him bring it up first, the direct approach just gets you misdirection and then before you know Tony's made you forget what you wanted to know in the first place.

"It was close," he finally says, breaking the silence, "too close."

"It could have been worse," he reminds him. Tony's glare tells him that he's probably spent the last hour coming up with every possible scenario that would have ended with either McGee or Michelle either seriously injured or worse so he wisely decides to not continue down that path. "It comes with the territory," he reminds the agent.

Yeah, like that direction is any better than the first.

"I know, doesn't mean I have to like it."

"No, it doesn't" agrees Jimmy.

Outside, unbeknownst to either man, Ducky watches them and while he can't hear what they're saying he can easily guess what the conversation is about. He smiles before turning away, he had meant to see how Anthony was holding up after what had transpired in the warehouse but it seems that Mr. Palmer had beat him to it.


	4. Black lung

_Still not mine._

_Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, added this their alerts or favorites, I'm really happy to find that others are enjoying this series._

_Spoilers: 4x01 'Shalom'_

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* * *

_

" 'Black lung', really, Tony?"

"You said you liked it," he reminded the medical examiner assistant.

Neither one was sure how it started but by some unspoken agreement they would hang out outside of work at least twice every two weeks, tonight they were hanging out at Jimmy's place. He was honestly surprised to find Tony at this door though, it had been a long day what with Ziva getting framed, investigated by the FBI, getting exonerated and then Gibbs' abrupt return and equally abrupt departure. Jimmy thought that Tony would want to talk to Ziva or want to be alone to digest the day's events. He knew that the other man was hurt when Ziva turned to Gibbs instead of him when she got into trouble. He assumed that talking to Ziva would take precedence over hanging out like they had planned on. It was, however, kind of late when Tony did show up so maybe he had been to Ziva's earlier.

"I know that but was 'black lung' really the best you could come up with?"

"Would you have preferred 'autopsy gremlin'?"

"No," said Jimmy slightly annoyed.

Tony rolled his eyes; sometimes it was just too easy.

"You do know that black lung is really coal workers' pneumoconiosis, right?"

"Yeah," replied Tony, at Jimmy's slightly surprised look Tony sighed. "Come on, Palmer, you don't think that I haven't done any exploring in all the time that I've lived here or when I was in Baltimore?"

He did have a point.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Talk about what?"

"About what happened today."

"I thought we were."

"No, we were discussing why you gave me the codename 'black lung'. So, wanna talk about it?"

"Not really."

Jimmy nodded, that was fair. He wasn't sure that Tony would talk to him about today, they were friends but he wasn't sure their friendship had progressed to the point where either of them felt comfortable opening up to the other. He was afraid that making Tony talk about what happened today would be pushing the boundaries of their new friendship past its limit.

"So excited about med school?"

"Actually, I'm kind of nervous," he told him.

"You'll do fine, Palmer."

"You really think so?"

"I know so."

"Thanks, Tony."

"Let's get back to the game, Palmer," said Tony quietly, the only indication that he acknowledged what Jimmy said was a slight nod of his head.

"Hey, I'm getting something to drink, want something?" Jimmy asked turning to Tony.

"Whatever you're having is fine with me."

As Jimmy got two drinks out of his fridge he couldn't help but smile, Tony really was full of surprises sometimes.

* * *

A/N: So I have some stories planned for some of the episodes in season four but are there any specific ones that people would like covered? I'll see if I can come up with something for it.


	5. For the Record

_So this is a tag to 'Singled Out' because I was really unsatisfied that only Ducky got to be mad at Gibbs when I would think that Tony has every right to be mad at Gibbs for the way he left, came back, left again and then came back again. Not to mention the fact, I think that Tony also has every right to be mad that no one seems to have appreciated how he he kept the team together while Gibbs was away, instead, he just got shoved aside once Gibbs returned._

_Spoilers: 4x03 'Singled Out' and slight spoilers for JAG's 'Meltdown'_

* * *

It had been a long day but there was a happy ending and Jimmy had gone upstairs to see if Tony was around, he wanted to see if the other man wanted to have a drink before going home for the night. However, Tony wasn't up there and when he asked Ziva where he had gone she told him that Tony had gone home shortly after seeing the director. He asked Ziva if she would like to stop for a drink but she declined and Jimmy really couldn't blame her, her commute was longer than his. That's how he ended up at a popular local bar just a three minute drive or ten minute walk from his apartment. Logically he knew that his job depended on there being dead bodies to examine but Jimmy never liked it when kidnapping cases ended with a body instead of a live person and so he'd go out and celebrate when a kidnapping case ended with a rescue. When he walked in he happily noted that the place wasn't too packed so he could get his one drink and then leave without too much hassle or wait. As he got closer to the bar he finally noticed that Tony was one of the patrons there, that wasn't odd, this bar was also pretty close to his place but Jimmy could see even from behind how tense Tony was and _that_ was odd. Sliding onto the stool next to him Jimmy made no move to greet Tony, instead turning his attention to the bartender and placing his order. Tony had been too busy starting into the bottom of his glass to notice Jimmy at first but he saw the identity of his bar mate out of the corner of his eye when the younger man sat down.

"I was looking for you upstairs earlier, I wanted to know if you wanted to get a drink before going home for the night, guess you beat me to it," Jimmy said after the bartender placed his beer in front of him.

"Guess I did," he replied.

Tony knew all about the assistant medical examiner's tradition, Palmer had explained it to him right after they had found that young petty officer alive in the middle of the summer and he understood, he had developed something similar when he had been a rookie cop back in Peoria. They all needed something to celebrate when they dealt with death every day but tonight Tony didn't want to have to be happy when he was currently trying to figure out why he had turned down the promotion that Jen offered him. The team had Gibbs back, they didn't need him anymore; they never wanted him in the first place. To be fair,_ he_ didn't want him in the first place but he had been left in charge and after a couple weeks of battles, yelling and second-guessing they had settled in a rhythm and they had gotten to see that he was a perfectly competent leader and while his style wasn't Gibbs' style, his style was uniquely his, it wasn't half bad. Tony liked to think that others were beginning to grow comfortable with the thought of having him in charge. Then Gibbs had come back and Michelle had been unceremoniously shoved back to legal and while Tony was really happy to have Gibbs back because well, it was Gibbs he thought that the older man could have at least acknowledged the fact that he had kept the team together in his absence. At the very least, Tony thought, he deserved a 'good job, DiNozzo' but Gibbs never said anything and McGee Ziva made it no secret how much they preferred Gibbs' leadership over Tony's. Just when he thought no one appreciated his efforts Jen had told him about a supervisory position open in Rota, Spain, Tony had liked Rota enough when he had first arrived there all those years ago with Viv and the three subsequent visits he made in the intervening years just reinforced just how much he enjoyed Rota but he had turned Jen down and now he was wondering if he had made the right decision.

"Was I that bad of a leader, Palmer?" asked Tony quietly, making no move to look at anything besides the bottom of his glass.

He had been wondering if this was ever going to come up, Gibbs' return had been welcomed by everyone, except Dr. Mallard, and while Jimmy knew that Tony was just as happy, if not more so than the rest, as the rest of the team he had been put out by how abruptly he had been shoved aside by his teammates without even so much as a 'thank you for keeping us together all these months'. He had expressed his displeasure to Dr. Mallard earlier today and the good doctor's only response was to tell him not to worry that he would be sure to have a word with Agent Gibbs and the others.

"No, why do you ask?"

He knew damn well why Tony was asking but this was uncharted territory for the both of them and Jimmy was nothing but thorough, a trait that was currently helping him in his first month of med school, and he wanted all the facts before he could come up with an appropriate answer.

"Because everyone except for Ducky is really, really happy that he's back in charge and team leader again," Tony responds despondently. "Can't say I blame them, why settle for a cheap imitation when you can get the real thing but god, Palmer, was it really that bad when I was the boss?" he asks him finally turning to face him and Jimmy wonders if Tony would be telling him all of this if he was sober, which he clearly wasn't at the moment.

Putting down his beer he pauses to gather his thoughts. He knows that whatever he says next could very well make their friendship stronger or break it into a million pieces and Jimmy enjoyed being friends with Tony too much to break their friendship over a carelessly worded statement.

"No," he repeats, "you were a good team leader." At that Tony gives a derisive snort, you wouldn't know it by the way McGee, Ziva or Abby were acting, you'd think he had been a crappy leader. "It's true," he continues as if he hadn't been interrupted, "that until you found your own way of doing things you it was kind of hard to take you seriously but once you found what worked for you things just started to fall into place."

"Yeah well, guess my best wasn't enough."

"That's not true and you know it."

"Hate to break it to you, Palmer, but it is."

"Tony, listen to me," Jimmy said firmly. _That_ got Tony's attention; he had never heard that tone of voice from Palmer. Once Jimmy was satisfied that he had Tony's full attention he continued. "_You were a good leader_," he said emphasizing each word. "You kept the team together even when they were making it difficult. You made sure Abby smiled, that Ziva laughed and that McGee had enough confidence to be the senior field agent. When Director Shepard put Michelle on your team you made it work, you helped McGee break her in, dragged her to the firing range every weekend and made her spar with Ziva a couple of times just so that she'd be a capable agent in the field. You watched out for your team, Tony, and made sure that they came back each day in one piece. Don't ever think for a moment that you weren't a good leader, Tony, because _you were a good leader_," Jimmy finished, repeating the last phrase so that Tony would get it.

Tony sighed and returned to looking at the glass he had been fiddling with for the past ten minutes. He'd thought that he had done a good job too but sometimes he wondered, especially after today and what McGee said.

"I really should have taken Jenny up on that offer," he murmured quietly. Jimmy frowned; he couldn't tell if Tony was talking to him or to himself. What offer did Director Shepard make him and why didn't Tony take it? "I've been here too long anyway, maybe it's time to move on," he continued quietly apparently forgetting that Jimmy was here with him.

Now _that_ got Jimmy worried, he had heard enough from Tony, Abby and Dr. Mallard to piece together the fact that before coming to NCIS Tony had only stayed at his previous jobs for only two years. Jimmy was a smart man; putting the last two statements together he came up with the most logical conclusion for Director Shepard's offer: his own team. She must have offered Tony his own team but it seems that he turned it down. Why? Now it seems like he was have second thoughts about it. Perhaps it was selfish of him but Jimmy didn't want Tony to leave, he had just found out that Tony was a really cool guy, on the surface he seemed like all those jocks he knew in high school and college but take the time to look behind the façade and he found that the senior field agent was loyal, trustworthy, there for his friends and an all around good guy.

"For the record, I'm glad you stayed," Jimmy said quietly.

Tony looked up at him startled; he had forgotten that the younger man was still there. It figures that Palmer could figure it out without Tony saying much, the guy was smart, he was in med school after all.

"Thanks, Palmer."


	6. Friendly

_So this is a different type of chapter than all the previous ones, someone had asked if the team would ever find out that they were friends so I have McGee, Ziva and Ducky discussing Tony's friendship with Jimmy._

_Spoilers: none really_

_Setting: early season 4, in my mind it's set pre 'Sandblast'_

_

* * *

_

They had almost made it back to NCIS when Ziva's curiosity finally got the better of her.

"Have Tony and Palmer always been like that?" she finally asks McGee, taking her eyes off the road for a quick moment much to his annoyance and fear.

"Like what, Ziva?" he asked her distractedly. "Could you _please_ keep your eyes on the road?" he begs as she glances sideways at him, his face just a bit paler than usual.

She complies before answering him. "Friendly."

"They've always been friendly, Ziva," he tells her.

"Yes, they have always been friendly but now it is….different," she finally says, not satisfied with the word she finally chose. It was really a shame that McGee did not know as many languages as she did, she's quite sure that one of them would have a better suited word.

By then they had reached NCIS and they had made it into the elevator before McGee speaks.

"How so?" he finally asks.

The look she gives him clearly says that he knows what she's talking about and in truth he does. She's not the only one to notice that Tony and Palmer have become friendlier recently. During the rare occasions of downtime Tony would sometimes visit Abby and sometimes he would go visit Ducky but recently Tony had been splitting his visits between visiting Abby and visiting Palmer. At more than one crime scene Tony and Palmer would quietly discuss the sports game that was on last night. Tony had never talked sports with the Ducky's assistant before but somewhere between Gibbs leaving and returning he had started to. In fact, Tony had hardly talked to Jimmy Palmer before period. Something, however, had changed between the two and while Tony had always been friendly to Palmer as a co-worker McGee would have never classified them as friends. Now, though, he was beginning to think that perhaps they were friends.

"Maybe you should ask Tony," he said when the elevator doors opened.

--

Ziva didn't get a chance to question Tony until later into the evening, they were one few left in the squad room, McGee had left an hour ago and while Gibbs was still around he had long since finished his paperwork and was currently in MTAC.

"You and Palmer are friends, yes?"

Tony looks up at her in surprise but the surprise quickly turns into confusion.

"Yes," he says slowly unsure of what she's getting at. "Why do you ask?"

"It is nothing," she says. "I have just noticed that you two have been quite chubby lately."

"First of all, it's _chummy_, Zee-vah, and second of all, well, Palmer's a nice guy," he says with a shrug.

Ziva opens her mouth to say something but before she gets the chance Tony gets up and places his completed paperwork in Gibbs' inbox before grabbing his pack from behind his desk.

"Night, Ziva!" he calls over his shoulder.

She sighs, it looks like she would have to wait until tomorrow to get an answer from him. It's not that she doesn't think Tony is capable of being friends with Palmer it's just that Palmer is Palmer and Tony is well, Tony. What could they possibly have in common with each other?

--

"Good night, Doctor Mallard," Jimmy says placing the finished report on his mentor's desk.

"Ah, all finished Mr. Palmer?"

"Yes, Doctor Mallard."

"Very well then, have a nice evening and do say hello to Anthony for me."

"Doctor?" asks Jimmy stopping in mid-stride to look back at the doctor.

"Aren't you meeting Anthony tonight for drinks and to watch a game?"

"Yes," replied Jimmy, Tony had invited him over to watch some Ohio State football. Jimmy had only a passing interest in football and Tony was determined to change that fact.

"Well, have a good time, Mr. Palmer. I must say that this reminds me of the nights I would spend with my dorm mates during my time at university. We would go to the local pubs and talk to the women we met, there was this one named Rosalyn who was quite memorable—" he sees Jimmy's attempts of being attentive while also trying to find a way to stop him before he really gets started "—but that's a story for another time. Good night, Mr. Palmer."

"Good night, Doctor."


	7. There's A Story To Be Told

_Still not mine, all mistakes, however, are.  
_

_Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, added this story to their alerts and/or favorites! :)_

_It's my thinking that while Tony would easily know things about Jimmy like his family and such because Jimmy would tell him, I think that it would take a while for Jimmy to know things about Tony besides the surface things since sharing personal information has never been Tony's forte so here Jimmy gets a glimpse of something from Tony's past._

_Spoilers: 4x07 'Sandblast'_

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* * *

_

"I heard that you actually got along with Josh Cooper."

"I wouldn't say that I got along with him, just convinced him to go to Princeton instead of the Marine Corps right now," said Tony as he fiddled with his glass before setting it down on his coffee table.

"Think he'll follow though?"

"Yeah, he definitely will. The kid's made up his mind, he won't back out of that plan," Tony replied as he stared at the collection of pictures on a side table next to his big screen TV.

"Think you'll get another chance to catch Sharif?"

"We'll get him," Tony told Jimmy confidently.

"What makes you so sure?" asked Jimmy frowning slightly, it's one thing to hope that they got another opportunity but it was another thing to have complete confidence that they'd get another opportunity and that they'd come out on top. From the tone of Tony's voice Jimmy guessed that it was the latter.

"I promised Josh that we would find the people responsible for his dad's death and that, Palmer, is a promise I intend to keep," Tony told him, his voice had a bit of an edge to it but his eyes never left the frame they were currently trained on. A slightly heavy silence followed before Tony started to speak again. "Hey, you want another drink? I'm going to get another soda," he told Jimmy, flashing him one of his trademark grins that, in Jimmy's opinion, was just a bit too forced.

"Uh, sure thanks, Tony," Jimmy said as Tony made his way to the kitchen.

Jimmy found himself along and curiously drawn to the cluster of picture frames that Tony had spent a good part of the evening staring at. By that point Jimmy had been to Tony's place several times before so he knew that the pictures on that particular table were of friends from his days at Ohio Sate University to the various police departments he had worked for before coming to NCIS. He picked up the frame that had held Tony's interest; it was the picture of a beautiful young woman who couldn't have been any older than twenty-two when the picture was taken. She reminded Jimmy of his sister, Lauren, same bright smile and lively eyes; he bet that she was just as vivacious as Lauren was. Everything about the picture screamed college so he surmised that she must have been a college friend of Tony's. A quick scan of the myriad of pictures on the table revealed some more pictures of the young woman but she was never any older in any of them, always trapped in college years despite the fact Jimmy could find numerous pictures of various college friends as adults. He wondered about that, obviously she had meant a lot to Tony so why did all the pictures of her stop after college? Jimmy sighed and he found his mind wandering back to one of the first times that Tony had visited him in his apartment.

--

"_She's pretty, is she your sister, Palmer?" asked Tony indicating the picture of Lauren that had been taken last summer on vacation._

_Jimmy glanced at the picture before nodding. "Yeah, that's Lauren; it's from the cruise she took last year with her husband, Tyler, two months before he got deployed."_

"_Your brother-in-law's a Corpsman, isn't he?"_

"_Yeah."_

_Tony picked up another photo, it was one of Lauren, Tyler and Kevin at his parents house for Easter last year. It was one of Jimmy's favorites of the many photos that Lauren routinely sent to her baby brother._

"_That's from Easter last year at my parents' house, it's one my favorites."_

_Tony nodded and for a moment Jimmy saw something in his eyes that he couldn't quite place but before he could examine it further it was gone and Tony was talking again._

"_So when does your brother-in-law get back?"_

--

Soon afterwards they had gone out to play another game of basketball and Jimmy had forgotten all about that look until tonight. It was the same look that he had in his eyes when he had talked about keeping his promise to Josh Cooper, something at odds with the edge evident in his voice. He was so lost in thought that he didn't even know that Tony had returned until he heard the _clink_ of the glass hitting the coaster causing him to jump slightly.

"Oh, hi, Tony, you're back. See, I was just looking at the pictures you have here, they're all really nice. I didn't move anything out of place I pr—"

"It's okay, Jimmy," Tony said quietly and Jimmy had the good sense to not let his surprise show too much, Tony had never called him Jimmy before. "I got you another drink," he said gesturing to the glass sitting on the coaster before joining him at the picture table. "She was a beauty, wasn't she?" he asked indicating the picture of the young woman who reminded Palmer so much of his older sister.

Jimmy's mind latched on to that one word, _**was**_. Well, that explained why all the pictures stopped after college.

"Who was she?" he asked quietly.

"Her name was Charlotte," Tony answered sadly.

Jimmy almost didn't ask but he had to know. "What happened to her?"

"You know what, I think it's time that we get back to that movie," Tony said taking one last look at Charlotte's picture and Jimmy is finally able to identify the fleeting look in Tony's eyes.

It was the look of someone who had lost someone close to them.

Perhaps one day Tony would tell him about Charlotte but tonight, tonight they would watch the movie he had brought over and Jimmy was okay with that.

* * *

So, I know that Ari's mother died when he was younger in a bombing while Ari was with his father but did they ever say how old he was at the time? I ask because I've been planning a story out with mentions of what happened to Ari's mother.


	8. I Think I Like Her

_Okay, so with all the times that Lee and Palmer were jumping each other at work you'd think that someone would have caught on so of course Tony would be the one to mention that their hook ups on the job were really kind of an open secret._

_Spoilers: 4x08 'Once a Hero'_

_

* * *

_

Tony made his way back down to his desk after his brief meeting with the Director. It had been a long day that started with a dead veteran Marine Sergeant but ended with the arrests of a human trafficking ring and the rescue of the girls. The MCRT section of the squad room was empty; McGee had finished his report and was probably down visiting Abby, Ziva, well, Tony had no clue where Ziva had disappeared to once she had finished her report, come to think of it Gibbs had disappeared as well but Tony had long ago given up trying to figure out where Gibbs goes when he disappears. It would probably come as a surprise to most of the agents but Tony really appreciated those rare moments of solitude, it gave him time to regroup and digest the events of the past couple of days. Agent Lee really surprised him today; apparently she retained some of the training that she had received over the summer when she had been assigned to them by the Director. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Agent Lee make her way through the squad room and from the looks of it she was on her way out.

"Agent Lee, hold up a minute," he called after her.

A somewhat apprehensive Agent Lee made her way back to stand in front of Tony's desk. "Yes, Agent DiNozzo?"

"Just wanted to tell you that you did good today, Lee."

Agent Lee blinked, of all the things she had expected him to say _that_ had not even made the list.

"Thank you, sir," she replied after she had gotten over the shock.

Tony opened his mouth but before he could say anything the elevator doors opened and Jimmy Palmer stepped out.

"Oh, I'm sorry, didn't know you were still working, Tony," he said clearly surprised to find Michelle in front of Tony's desk.

"No, it's okay, I was just leaving," she replied quickly. "Thanks you again, Agent DiNozzo."

"I meant it, Lee."

She smiled before turning to leave but not before Tony saw the look she gave Palmer. Tony looked down at his desk to hide the smirk forming, could those two be anymore obvious?

"So, what brings you up here, Palmer?" asked Tony once Agent Lee had left.

"Here," he said handing Tony a DVD case as an answer.

Tony looked down at the DVD before quirking an eyebrow at Palmer. "This is the movie you borrowed nearly three weeks ago, Palmer."

"Yeah, sorry about that, Tony, I meant to return it earlier but I kept leaving it on my counter," he replied sheepishly.

"No worries," he said leaning back in his chair. "So done for the day?"

"Yup, I was just on my way out."

"So I'm guessing that Agent Lee is waiting for you in the parking garage."

Tony quickly covered his laugh with a cough as he watched Palmer react to the news. Really, you'd think that those two would be better at hiding it, they did, after all, work for an agency that specialized in finding things out.

"H-how did you find out?"

"Well, Palmer, I'm a trained investigator, finding things out is my job. Plus, you need to hide it better."

"How long have you known?"

"Since the Patterson case," Tony replied, in truth he had noticed the attraction between the two long before that but Lee and Palmer could be so wonderfully socially awkward that it was weeks before either of them did anything about it.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Rule twelve is one of Gibbs' rules, not mine," he told the younger man shrugging.

"Who else knows?"

"Ziva and probably Abby and McGeek."

"Great," groaned Palmer.

"Look at the bright side, Jimmy, Gibbs and Ducky probably don't know yet though if you two keep hooking up in autopsy Ducky will definitely find out."

Jimmy groaned and collapsed into McGee's empty chair. Tony ducked his head so that Palmer couldn't see his face because Tony couldn't trust himself not to be so amused that he laughed out loud. It's not that he didn't feel sorry for Palmer, oh he did but it was just so amusing. Who would have thought that the autopsy gremlin and a "by-the-book" probie like Agent Lee would ever get together; much less do the dirty while at work? It certainly took Tony by surprise but hey, stranger things have happened before. The ringing of his cell phone saved him having to answer the younger man; taking the sleek black cell phone out of his jacket pocket he recognized the number immediately. Jeanne.

"Are you going to take that?" asked Jimmy.

"Um, yeah, if you'll excuse me for a minute…"

"Sure, go ahead."

Tony quickly made his way to a more secluded corner near the windows before flipping open his phone.

"Hi, Jeanne," he said, a small smile starting to form. "I can't wait….Yeah; I'm finishing up right now….I'll meet at the entrance in twenty, okay? See you soon…Bye."

When Tony returned to his desk the small smile was no longer so small and Jimmy raised an eyebrow slightly.

"So what's her name?" Jimmy asked once Tony had sat down again.

"What makes you think that there's a her?"

"Because you haven't so much as flirted with the brand new FLETC graduates that have been here all week."

Tony looked up; apparently he wasn't the only observant one.

"Her name's Jeanne."

"I'm guessing that you're going to see her once you leave right?" asked Jimmy as he watched Tony shut down his computer and place some files in the cabinet behind him.

"Yeah, I am, so you about ready to head out, Palmer?"

Jimmy nodded and Tony stuck the DVD into his pack before he turned off his desk light before the two of them waited for the elevator in a comfortable silence. In the elevator his cell phone buzzed and when Tony flipped it open he saw a text message from Jeanne, _'don't forget to bring your dancing shoes'_. He just shook his head, why she wanted to go dancing was beyond him but she seemed so excited about the prospect, how could he say no? Jimmy had been watching his friend with interest, he'd seen Tony with his many short-lived relationships and the one thing that was constant, besides the relationship's short life, was that Tony would still flirt with other women, granted it would be harmless and not go anywhere but he would still flirt. Tony must really be taken with her if he wasn't even making his usual attempts at chatting up the new graduates.

"You must really like one," Jimmy said after Tony tucked his phone away.

"You know what, Palmer, I think I actually might."


	9. Regular Occurrences

_Because every time I see the sexual harassment seminar scene in 'Driven' I can't help but laugh._

_Spoilers: 4x11 'Driven'_

_

* * *

_

"Did you really have to ask her that, Palmer?"

"What? She was very clear about what was appropriate behavior and what was inappropriate behavior," Jimmy said defending himself.

"You work in autopsy."

"So?"

"Palmer, they're _dead_."

"I know that, Tony, but that doesn't mean that you still shouldn't ask." Tony tilted his head to one side; Jimmy sort of lost him there. For a smart guy Jimmy asked some really head-scratch worthy questions that would make Tony wonder and not necessarily in a good way. "Besides," continued Jimmy, "what about you?"

"Well, I had to think of something after Ziva decided to stick her tongue in my ear."

If Jimmy wasn't so used to such occurrences happening between Tony and Ziva he would think that such a statement was odd but now he just chalked it up to another day at work. When Jimmy told his friends about his co-workers and some of the everyday occurrences that happened they would accuse him of lying but Jimmy just put it down to them having more boring jobs.

"So, think she'll be the speaker again when we have another mandatory sexual harassment seminar?"

"Not a chance."

"So how many would this make then?"

"Five," replied Tony his eyes dancing with amusement.


	10. Sometimes Evil Has No Reason

_Okay, so I've been going in chronological order and I still plan on doing that but I just saw a rerun of 'Smoked' today and I decided that I really needed to write some sort of tag to that episode. So once again, this particular chapter is out of order but the rest of the chapters should not be._

_Spoilers: 4x10 'Smoked'_

_

* * *

_

The pressurized doors to autopsy swished open and both Ducky and Jimmy looked up to see who their visitor was, neither man was expecting anyone of Gibbs' team since the case had now been solved. Ducky had suspected that Gibbs would be the visitor but to his surprise young Anthony was their visitor this late hour. After a case involving a serial killer or just one that was particularly hard Anthony usually sought out Abigail, never coming to autopsy once the case no longer obligated him to come, this was the first time in Anthony's five years at NCIS that Ducky had seen him voluntarily come to autopsy after a case as hard to fathom as this one. A quick glance told Ducky that that Anthony needed someone to talk to but he also knew that that someone wasn't him. He had not been blind to the blossoming friendship between young Anthony and young Mr. Palmer; it was a friendship that had gotten strong in a surprisingly short amount of time. At one time perhaps Anthony would have sought him out to talk about today's events but now it was no longer his place.

"Hello, Anthony, my boy, you're here quite late," greeted Ducky cordially.

"Um, yeah, I guess I am."

"Yes, well, if you'll excuse me gentlemen, I believe that I have some business to attend to with our Abigail," said Ducky as he turned to walk through the doors that Tony had just come through but not before giving Jimmy a look that he, thankfully, was able to decipher.

Once Ducky was gone Jimmy gestured for Tony to have a seat in the seat that the good doctor had recently vacated as he made his way to the cabinet where Ducky kept the some scotch and glasses. Neither man said anything while Jimmy poured two fingers for Tony and himself. Normally Jimmy wasn't much of a scotch drinker, come to think of it neither was Tony, but this case had been particularly hard. Nineteen young women lost their lives for what? Jimmy wasn't sure if they would ever find out what drove Karen Bright to kill all those young women, perhaps Dr. Mallard was right when he said that sometimes there was no mental or physical defect or hard upbringing to explain why a person did such horrible things. Sometimes evil happened and there was no reason behind it.

"Sometimes I really hate this job," Tony said quietly as he stared at the amber liquid as if in it depths he could find some sort of reason behind the brutality of Karen Bright's actions.

"Me too," he agreed just as quietly.

"I asked McGee if he would be okay with not investigating the death of Karen Bright's husband when we thought that he was the serial killer if Sarah was one of the victims."

"Why?" Jimmy asked surprised.

Tony shrugged before running a hand through his short hair. "I don't know. I guess…I guess I was jealous, I can't remember a time when I wouldn't be okay with someone getting to the serial killer before the law did."

Jimmy nodded, he could understand that. While vigilante justice wasn't something that he usually supported but in cases like this he could understand it and perhaps even support it.

"Given the circumstances I think McGee will understand," he reassured Tony.

Tony didn't say anything, just continued to stare at the liquid in his glass. This case was just so screwed up. Finally he stopped staring at the scotch in the glass and downed it all in one gulp.

"You know, Charlotte was my first real friend at Ohio State…"


	11. Getting Justice

_Takes place immediately after 'Sharif Returns'._

_Spoilers: 4x07 'Sandblast, 4x10 'Smoked', 4x13 'Sharif Returns'_

_

* * *

_

"Yeah, you're welcome, Josh….Don't hit the books too hard…Take care," Tony said before snapping his phone shut and placing on his desk.

"So you told him," Jimmy said from McGee's desk.

"I told you, Palmer, making sure that we got justice for his father was a promise that I intended to keep."

"So what happens now?"

"Now he goes to class and deals with his father's death secure in the knowledge that the person who killed him is dead."

"Does it help?"

Tony didn't say anything for a long time and Jimmy wondered if he was actually going to answer him. He was pretty sure he knew where Tony's mind was at right now because he was currently thinking about what Tony had told him about his friend the night they closed the Karen Bright case.

"Yes," he finally said, "but—"

"Sometimes the feelings for revenge are hard to let go of, even after justice has been served," Jimmy supplied.

Tony nodded in surprise; apparently Ducky's been teaching Palmer a thing or two from his study materials.

"It gets better though, over time," he said.

"Did you tell him that?"

"Not in so many words."

Jimmy wasn't sure how long they sat there in silence, lost in thought, but it must have been a while since other agents that were passing by the MCRT section were giving them odd looks. The silence was finally broken by the ringing of Tony's cell phone.

"Hey, I thought you were busy tonight...Well, how could I say no to that? Sure, I'll be there soon….Bye, Jeanne."

They grabbed their things and were silent throughout the whole elevator ride.

"Have a good night, Tony. I'll see you Thursday," Jimmy said once he reached his car.

"Night, Palmer, see you then."


	12. Complicated Situations

_Spoilers: 4x14 'Blowback'_

_

* * *

_

"So are you mad at me too?" asked Tony but he still had his head in his arms so it was kind of mumbled. Instead of answering him Jimmy pulled up McGee's empty chair and brought it around to the front of Tony's desk. Confused as to why Jimmy wasn't answering him Tony looked up to see Jimmy looking at him thoughtfully.

"Why do you think that should be mad at you?"

"Because, Jimmy, I _lied_ to you, to everyone, all because Jenny wanted to keep this whole thing need to know."

"Well, there you go, you have your answer right there."

Tony looked at him blankly. That was not helpful. What's with riddles? Why couldn't Palmer just _tell _him?

"You lost me there, Palmer."

"Tony, you followed Director Shepard's orders to keep this thing between the two of you, did you not?"

"Yes."

"Did you want? Lie to us, I mean."

"Of course not."

"Well, there's your answer. Yeah, you lied to us and that's annoying but you didn't do it because you wanted to, it's because you were doing your job by following the Director's orders. I can't be mad at you for doing your job."

"I wish that Gibbs could see it your way."

"In my opinion, Agent Gibbs is more pissed at Director Shepard for not telling him about this mission."

"But why—"

"Tony, in case you haven't noticed, Agent Gibbs doesn't like when anyone, even Director Shepard, borrows one of you guys without telling him why. Actually, come to think of it, Agent Gibbs doesn't like it when anyone borrows you guys period."

Tony groaned and let his head collapse back into his arms. "This is so messed up."

Jimmy really couldn't argue with that, the situation _was_ messed up. The Director was running secret undercover missions behind everyone's backs, Gibbs was mad at the Director (not that it was an unusual occurrence but this time it was different from all the previous times) and Tony seemed to think that he had to apologize for doing his job.

"Come on, let's get out of here, my treat," said Jimmy putting back McGee's chair.


	13. Of Libraries and Girlfriends

_In 'Broken Bird' Ducky asked Jimmy if he had been spending all his free time in the George Washington University cafeteria so I'm assuming that Jimmy attends the George Washington University med school. I don't know if George Washington University's libraries are only for their students because my college libraries were open to the public but I went to a public university so it might be different at private universities, for this story assume that it is open to the general public. Since Tony's cover was an online professor for film at American University I thought that it would be interesting if Tony actually did take film classes at American University, at American University film is part of a master's program so I don't actually know if there are undergrad classes available for you to take on your own but for this story assume there are. Interestingly enough, Windom Place NW (Tony DiNardo's address) is really only like two miles away from American University_ _and is a residential neighborhood that has townhouses so I kind like believing that Tony lives there for real_. _Sorry for the super long author's note.^^;;_

_Spoilers: 4x14 'Blowback' and 4x18 'Iceman'_

_Setting: Between 'Iceman' and 'Grace Period'_

_

* * *

_

"You want to talk about it?" asked Jimmy after seeing Tony glance at his phone for the fifth time.

"Huh?"

"You seem very distracted tonight," Jimmy said staring pointedly at the phone that was lying in Tony's left hand.

"Oh this? This is nothing, Palmer."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

Shrugging Jimmy turned back to the medical textbook that he had been attempting to understand for the past hour. He had planned on doing some studying at the library on the George Washington University campus when Tony asked if he could tag along saying that wanted to see if they had some books he wanted to read. So that's how they both ended up surrounded by books in a quiet corner of the library, Jimmy with his medical books and Tony had some books on film and film history. At Jimmy's raised eyebrow the agent explained to him that he was taking a couple film courses at American University. The medical student had to admit that if Tony was going to take any courses at a university then he'd be taking film courses.

"I think messed up, Palmer," said Tony out of the blue half an hour later.

"Messed up what exactly, Tony?"

"Things with Jeanne," said Tony still looking at his cell phone.

Jimmy closed the book on immunology that he had been studying and gave the older man his full attention. While Tony would sometimes talk about Jeanne he mostly kept that part of personal life to himself, the only other time that Jimmy could remember Tony talking about his relationship with her in a serious way was back in the very beginning when he admitted to Jimmy that he may very well really like her.

"Why do you think that you've messed things up?"

Tony placed his head in his hands, should he tell Jimmy? Palmer was his friend but Tony wasn't used to sharing something like this, especially when he knew that he shouldn't be falling in love with Jeanne but knowing that he really was and he wasn't sure that there was a way to stop it. He had wanted to tell Jeanne that he loved her right after he beat her to the top of the climbing wall because he was pretty sure that he did but telling her that he loved her would break the first rule of undercover work. How could explain all of this to Palmer but still keep the mission a secret? At times like this he really wished that the entire mission had come to light when Charles Harrow had died.

"Have you ever wanted to tell someone that you loved them but when the opportunity presented itself you didn't?"

"Once."

"Really?"

"Sarah Nolan was my first real love; we were nineteen at the time."

"What stopped you?"

Jimmy shrugged. "At the time I knew that I loved her but I wasn't sure how to tell her."

"Did she know?"

"That I loved her? Yeah, I'm pretty sure that she knew that I loved her before I knew that I loved her if how disappointed she was after the last concert in the park that August was anything to go by."

"Did you ever tell her?"

"Yeah, after Lauren set me straight, sometimes having an older sister can be a good thing."

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened between you two?"

"Well, we dated pretty much all through college and most of the summer after graduation but then she had to go to California for grad school and we tried but being on opposite coastlines proved to be something we couldn't overcome. We're still friends on Facebook though."

Tony sighed, god, he wished that the situation with Jeanne was as easy as Jimmy's was.

"I don't know if this is helpful at all but let me tell you want my sister told me, if you love her you should tell her because you're never guaranteed tomorrow."

Tony let out a breathe, he knew that the younger man was trying to be helpful and if the situation wasn't as messed up as it was it would be very helpful advice but the situation was messed up.

"Thanks, Palmer."

Jimmy nodded and both men returned to their books the silence broken by the occasional rustle of pages being turned or the scribble of a pen on paper.


	14. Grace and Absolution

_So this a tag to 'Grace Period' and it's a little different from the other chapters since you could say that there are more team moments than just moments between Tony and Jimmy but I think it fits since the death of Paula and her team really did affect everyone._ _Hope you guys enjoy it, 'Grace Period' is one of my favorite episodes._

_Spoilers: 4x19 'Grace Period', mentions of previous character death  
_

_

* * *

_

_Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,  
That saved a wretch like me.  
I once was lost but now am found,  
Was blind, but now I see._

- "_Amazing Grace", John Newton_

--

"I'll be back in a couple of minutes, Mr. Palmer; I need to get something to Abby."

Ducky's words brought back Jimmy to the present and he nodded dumbly in Ducky's general direction. The doctor approached his young assistant and gave the young man's shoulder a gentle squeeze; it had been a trying weekend for them all due to the loss of Agent Cassidy and her team. Pausing at the autopsy table closest to the door Ducky pushed a stray lock of hair out of Paula's face.

"Agents Hall and Nelson would have been so proud of you, my dear, I know we all are," Ducky says quietly before leaving autopsy.

Now alone Jimmy let himself collapse into Ducky's chair. Sometimes this job just really sucked. Jimmy had not known Paula Cassidy as well as Tony, McGee or Agent Gibbs did but he did like her. She was always nice to him when business brought her to the Navy Yard, which wasn't often, but over the course of the nearly three years that Jimmy had been working NCIS he and Paula Cassidy had encountered each other enough times to develop a friendly work friendship. The sound of the pressurized doors brought Jimmy back and he looked up expecting to see Ducky entering but instead saw Tony walking through the doors. He knew that Agent Gibbs had told the senior field agent to go home once they had returned to NCIS headquarters but Tony had gone straight down the Abby's lab and Jimmy guessed that Agent Gibbs would rather have Tony under Abby's care than out somewhere trying to forget how Paula died.

"I'm sorry, Tony, I know you two were close," he told the other man once he was standing next to him.

"Thanks, Jimmy," Tony told him quietly. "Did she…did she suffer at all?" he asked as he valiantly tried to keep his emotions in check.

"Death would have been nearly instantaneous," he told his friend gently.

Not trusting himself to speak he just nodded.

"Do you want me to—"

"No," the older man said quickly locking eyes with Jimmy and the younger man could clearly read what Tony wasn't able to say, _'Please don't go, I don't think that I can face this alone right now'_.

"Okay, take your time, I'll just be over here if you need me," he told Tony and squeezed his shoulder gently much like Ducky had done earlier before heading to his desk and proceeded to ostensibly organize the few folders on top.

After taking a moment to gather himself, Tony finally looked down and was beyond grateful for the white sheet that was drawn up to her jaw so that only her face was exposed. Despite the burns and abrasions caused by the bomb she still looked like Paula and if Tony didn't know any better he would have thought that she was only sleeping. After seeing what the bomb had done to Yahzeed Fahad he was grateful that he didn't have to see what damage the bomb had done to the rest of Paula, she may not have been at the bomb's epicenter, Jamal Malik had that honor, but she had been close enough.

--

"_DiNozzo, where the hell do you think you're going?" demanded Gibbs as Tony made his way to the door on shaky legs._

_Tony paid him no heed and almost made it outside before being taken by surprise by Ziva. Using the surprise to her advantage she pushed her partner back into the store._

"_No, Tony," she told him firmly. "You do not want to see her like this, trust me."_

"_Get out of my way, Ziva," he said voice low and slightly menacing. He knew that Paula was most certainly dead but a small part of him wanted desperately to believe that she somehow survived the bomb blast. _

"_No," Ziva told him once again but gentler this time. "Let your last image of Paula be of her alive and whole, not dead and mangled, it is not something that you can ever get out of your head, trust me on that."_

_This time Tony made no move to say anything and he saw Ziva nod slightly to someone, Tony could only assume that it was Gibbs, before she turned and left the store._

"_Come on, Tony, let's get some air," Gibbs said quietly before taking his arm and gently steering him out of the store into the daylight that seemed so unfairly bright after what had just happened._

--

"Hey Paula, I can't believe that we were talking only this morning and now you're here. I've been thinking about what you said and you were right, it's a cliché but life really is too damn short to not tell someone you love them when you do. I'm going to tell Jeanne that I love her, tonight, because I do. I'll miss you, Paula," Tony said as he tenderly stroked her hair, "say hi to Kate for me."

He walked over to where Jimmy was and was slightly amused to see him discreetly scramble to make it seem like he had been working all this time instead of half-listening Tony talk to Paula. He'd tease the assistant about that another time.

"Thanks," Tony said sincerely, "and tell your sister that she gives pretty good advice."

"Of course," Jimmy replied. "See you tomorrow?" he asked his friend hesitantly.

"Yeah, Jimmy, I'll see you tomorrow," Tony told him before leaving autopsy.

Sighing Jimmy walked over to Paula's table and stood in Tony's spot. Right now would be the perfect opportunity to say his goodbyes to Paula since Dr. Mallard was still gone. As he looked down at Paula he thought back to the last time he had seen the agent, the last time he had seen her alive, shortly after she had returned with Tony after finding the secret door.

--

"_I'm sorry about Hall and Nelson, they were good guys," he told her after running into her on his way back from Abby's lab._

"_Thank you, Jimmy. They were the best agents that I could have ever asked for," she responded. _

"_Is there anything I can do?"_

"_Can I….can I see them?"_

"_Of course," he said quietly leading the way to autopsy. Once inside Jimmy made his way purposefully to the drawers that held Paula's fallen agents and after pulling them open he stood unobtrusively out of the way, letting Paula have one final moment with them. _

_Paula stayed as silent and as still as a statue for a long time, just looking at Rick and James. This shouldn't have happened; they shouldn't have had weekend duty twice in a row but they had and now her agents were dead. _

"_I promise that I will get the bastard who did this." Stepping back she nodded to Jimmy and waited as he placed each man back in his respective drawer. "Thank you."_

_Jimmy just nodded and accompanied Paula into the elevator. "I'm going to visit Tony," he explained after seeing her questioning look._

"_You two good friends?"_

"_Yeah, he's a good guy."_

_Paula smiled; despite how things ended between them she couldn't deny that Tony was essentially a good guy underneath it all. "Yeah, Jimmy, he is." The elevator doors opened but before Jimmy could step out Paula grabbed his wrist. "Hey Jimmy, look out for him, will you?"_

"_Uh, sure, Paula," Jimmy said confused as to what brought that about._

_Satisfied Paula dropped Palmer's wrist and allowed him to get out of the elevator._

--

At the time Jimmy had been puzzled by Paula's last statement but looking back he couldn't help but wonder if Paula knew on some level that she wouldn't be around much longer.

_Look out for him, will you?_

"Don't worry, Paula, I will, we all will," he said before pulling up the sheet to cover her face.


	15. Extracurricular Activites

_So this is the last story for season four. I do have some ideas for certain episodes of season five but are there any episodes that you want to see stories for? I'll see if I can come up with something for it.  
_

_Spoilers: 4x22 'In the Dark'_

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* * *

_

"So, Palmer, found your _pipettes_ yet?" asked Tony smirking slightly while indicating to Jimmy that he should pull up a seat.

"No, no luck," replied Jimmy after he pulled up one of the chairs from one of the free desks. He'd been searching all day and he still couldn't find Michelle's panties. This could prove to be a big problem.

"Really now?" asked Tony, his smirk widening. "Oh yeah, I know that you haven't been searching for pipettes all day long, Palmer," he continued at Jimmy's surprised look.

"But—"

"I told you, Palmer, you and Lee have got to be more discreet," Tony said as he reached into a drawer to his right and brought out a paper bag. "You can thank Matt, the night shift janitor, for this," he said as he handed it to Jimmy.

"Okay, just one question, where did he find it?"

"Fourth floor broom closet, it seems that most of the janitorial staff is aware of your 'extracurricular activities' with Lee."

Jimmy groaned, this was great, _just great_.

"Hey, Palmer, piece of advice."

"Yeah?"

"Don't forget about the cameras. They don't have audio but they are everywhere," he said as he pointed one out trained on the middle of the MCRT section of the squad room. "Perhaps you two could just, you know, sleep together at your place or hers for a change of scenery."

Jimmy just nodded; he had been meaning to talk Michelle about it, they've been having way too many close calls recently.

"Come on, let's get out of here, you can call Lee and make sure she isn't freaking out or anything," he told the younger man still smirking.


	16. I'm Glad You're Not Dead

_A tag to 'Bury Your Dead'._

_Once again, not mine, just borrowing them for the moment._

_Spoilers: 5x01 'Bury Your Dead' and mentions of 2x23 'Twilight' and 4x19 'Grace Period'_

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* * *

_

"What is it, Doctor?" asked Jimmy, the sense of dread in the pit of his stomach that he had woken up with grew bigger once he saw Ducky's expression after he hung up the phone.

"Get the equipment ready, Mr. Palmer," Ducky said quietly and while Jimmy really wanted to know what was going on something in Doctor Mallard's tone of voice stopped him from asking so Jimmy just nodded. Once he had loaded all the equipment into the van he returned to grab the keys but Doctor Mallard grabbing his bicep stopped him. "Before we go there is something you need to know about the case, Mr. Palmer," Doctor Mallard said steering his assistant into the first available chair.

"Doctor…" began Jimmy, the dread now threatening to explode.

"That was Director Shepard, you know the young woman that Anthony has been dating?"

"Yes, what does Jeanne have to do with things?"

"Apparently Tony has been undercover all this time, Jeanne's father is René Benoit, the arms dealer La Grenouille," the doctor said watching as realization dawned on the younger man. "Last night Tony was with Miss Benoit and this morning while the team was tracking Tony's whereabouts there was…an explosion involving Tony's car."

All rational thought fled Jimmy's mind leaving him slack-jawed an all of the sudden it was just too quiet in Jimmy's mind. Tony could not be dead, he just _couldn't_. Tony was not supposed to die, at least not like that; the man survived the pneumonic plague for crying out loud.

"—Jimmy?"

At hearing his given name Jimmy blinked at his mentor confused. "Yes, Doctor?"

The look on Doctor Mallard's face told Jimmy that he had been trying to get his attention for the past couple of minutes. "We have to go now, Jimmy," the elderly medical examiner told the young man.

All Jimmy trusted himself to do was to nod his understanding.

--

Being at the scene was worse than Jimmy had thought it would be. He had seen car explosions up close and had seen what state the body would be in after being engulfed by a ball of fire but this wasn't just any scene and it wasn't just any car. It was Tony's car and Tony was dead. They passed unnoticed by Agent Gibbs, he was too transfixed by the burnt out car, Jimmy could relate. _'Don't throw up, don't throw up'_ Jimmy silently willed himself as he got closer to the car.

"Mr. Palmer?"

"I can do this, Doctor," Jimmy said firmly.

Doctor Mallard stared intently at the young man he had taken under his wing before finally nodding. "Very well, please open the bag then."

--

They loaded and unloaded the gurney into the van with gentleness that Jimmy could only recall when they were transporting a fallen agent like Kate or Paula Cassidy and her team. Once they had the body, _Tony_, on the table Ducky excused himself leaving autopsy and Jimmy wasn't far behind him. He couldn't stay there, oh he knew that he would eventually have to return to autopsy because they had to begin the autopsy but Jimmy wanted to put off that moment as long as possible. He found himself upstairs in the squad room; the rest of the team had yet to return. Glancing at Tony's desk Jimmy could imagine the senior field agent performing a search on the computer or talking on the phone like he was often seen doing. Walking over to Tony's desk he looked at the few files that Tony had left on his desk before heading out, a cursory glance told Jimmy that they were cold cases, one that he knew and two that must have been before his time. Tony's American Pie mug lay to the left of the files and unable to resist Jimmy picked up the mug. Tony loved that mug, not as much as the Ohio State mug that he only used when he was working late or came back to work after the work day was over but he loved it nonetheless, and used it practically everyday. Before he could change his mind Jimmy looked around quickly and seeing no one around he swiftly made his way back to the elevator still holding the American Pie mug. If Ducky noticed the newest addition to Jimmy's area of autopsy he didn't say anything but as he moved away from his desk Jimmy caught a glimpse of child-size blue stapler sitting on top of a stack of folders.

--

Jimmy thought that he'd never be grateful that Tony had a permanent physical reminder of his bout with pneumonic plague but lo and behold, today he was glad for the extensive scarring that should have been visible on Tony's lungs but were absent from the lungs of the man in autopsy.

"Guess the nearly two weeks in the Bethesda ICU turned out to be useful after all, Tony," Jimmy said to the now empty room as he recalled Tony complaining to him one time when he had visited him in ICU.

--

The knocking was incessant and finally Jimmy gave up and walked to his apartment door.

"This had better be good," Jimmy said crossly as he yanked open the door; he was tired, it had been an emotionally draining day. Who in their right mind came to pay a visit so close to midnight anyway? Any angry words, however, were chased away once he saw who his late night visitor was.

"She's gone, Jimmy."

Jimmy wordlessly closed his apartment door, ushered his friend into his living room and sat him down on his couch. Disappearing into his kitchen he soon reappeared with a glass filled with a clear liquid, Jimmy didn't have much in the way of alcohol at the moment but he did have a bottle of vodka. He placed the glass in front of Tony who didn't give any indication that he ever knew that Palmer was in the room.

"I'm sorry, I know you loved her," he told his friend sincerely. If his apartment hadn't been so silent Jimmy would have missed what Tony said next.

"I still do."

Glancing at the clock next to his bookcase Jimmy was slightly surprised to see that nearly an hour had passed since Tony first appeared at his door. Getting up he rooted through his hallway closet before he found a spare blanket before heading to his bedroom and grabbing a spare pillow from his bed and a clean pair of sweats from his pile of newly clean clothes. When he returned he saw that Tony still hadn't moved from the spot on the couch he had since he arrived.

"Here," he said handing the older man the spare clothes, "it's late; you can crash on my couch if you want." Tony just nodded and made his way to the bathroom down the hall. "Hey Tony," Jimmy called after his friend's retreating back.

Tony turned around, looking at Jimmy questioningly.

"I'm glad you're not dead."


	17. White Picket Fence Dreams

_So did anyone have trouble logging into the website this weekend? Cause I did and now my email alerts aren't coming, at least not right now._

_Because I felt really bad for Tony through out the whole episode, especially when you consider how the team was treating Tony._

_Spoilers: 5x02 'Family'_

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Ducky entered autopsy followed by a damp Tony. Now that was an interesting development.

"Mr. Palmer, could you please lend Anthony some spare scrubs. Honestly, Tony, if you knew that the sprinkler system was connected to the Nelsons' security system you should have been more vigilant after being sprayed the first time or at least remembered to replenish your stash of spare clothes," Ducky tut-tutted before leaving autopsy probably to go talk to Agent Gibbs or Abby.

"Tony, is there a reason why you're wet?" asked Jimmy from his desk.

"I got into a minor disagreement with Nelsons' sprinkler system."

"I would ask why but I think it would just be faster and easier if I just got you the spare scrubs," said Jimmy leading Tony to the closet where they kept spare scrubs, linens and NCIS jumpsuits.

"You thought right, Palmer," replied Tony.

"So do you want scrubs or a jumpsuit?" asked Jimmy over his shoulder.

"Scrubs will be fine."

"Here, these should fit," said Jimmy holding out a pair of plain navy blue scrubs and a towel.

"Thanks, Palmer. Can I?" he asked indicating the closet towards the back of autopsy.

"Sure, light switch is to your left."

Tony waggled his eyebrows suggestively at Jimmy leaving the medical assistant no doubt that Tony knew what had occurred numerous times in that closet. Tony emerged from the closet now thankfully dry just as Jimmy was hanging up the phone.

"That was the hospital, the Nelsons' baby boy should be fine, they'll be releasing him in two days," Jimmy said.

"That's good," replied Tony uncharacteristically subdued.

"You okay, Tony?" asked Jimmy turning towards his friend and indicated that Tony should pull up a chair.

"You ever think about it, Palmer?" asked Tony once he was seated.

"Think about what?"

"About the white picket fence, the dog and the two point two kids, the whole nine yards."

Jimmy had given some thought to it but always as a someday thing. He was young, there would be time to find that person and then get the dog, minivan and two point two kids. Jimmy was quite sure that until Jeanne Tony had given very little thought to the ideal American dream, he probably couldn't envision that sort of life for himself until Jeanne.

"A little," he said, "have you?" he asked curious to see if he would be proven right.

"Not until Jeanne," Tony admitted. "She was really the first person that I really wanted to have that with," he said quietly.

Jimmy nodded, so he was right.

"She wanted me to choose you know," Tony said absentmindedly.

"Choose?" asked Jimmy clearly confused.

"She was leaving and she wasn't coming back. She told me to choose."

"Oh," said Jimmy. Tony didn't mention anything about that the night he stayed over or the following morning before Jimmy headed to class and Tony went back to his own place; then again, Tony really hadn't been in a talkative mood either. Not that Jimmy could blame him; he knew how much Tony cared for Jeanne and her leaving so abruptly hit him hard.

"You'll get another chance at it," he told the older man.

"Get another chance at what?"

"Another shot at the white picket fence, the dog and the two point two kids. One day you'll find another girl and she won't ask you to choose, you'll see," he told Tony confidently.


	18. Someone to Watch Over Me

_Spoilers: 5x07 'Requiem', slight mentions of 2x22 'SWAK'  
_

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* * *

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_Three weeks since the events in 'Requiem'_

The only sound in the room was the slight rustle of pages being turned, the reader bent over the big medical textbook. Occasionally a nurse would pause at the door to check on the patient but wouldn't get past the doorway, satisfied that the patient was sleeping soundly and the visitor wasn't causing any trouble. After an hour of the silence in the room only being broken by the occasional cough from the sleeping patient or the rustle of pages being turned the visitor looked at his watch and was surprised that find out that he had already been there for nearly two hours now. He placed the book on the empty chair next to him and took off his glasses before rubbing his fatigued eyes. Looking back at the sleeping form on the bed Jimmy was pleased to see that Tony looked better and he than he had in weeks and he hadn't been coughing as much, which was good. He would have to leave to go to class soon but he could hang out for at least another half hour though Jimmy wondered if he should, Tony may be doing better but he was usually out cold for most of the day and wasn't aware of the constant parade of visitors that he's had for the past week since the doctors started to allow him to have more visitors.

"Jimmy, what are you doing here?" asked Tony weakly alerting Jimmy that his friend was finally awake.

"I had some free time before class," he explained as he handed Tony the remote so that he could move the bed into a sitting position.

"How long have you been here?"

"A while, did you know that your room is actually a great place to study?"

"No," said Tony frowning slightly, anything else he was going to say was cut off by a bout of coughing. Jimmy quickly grabbed the tissue box from Tony's beside table before helping his friend loosen the sputum in his system. Once the coughing fit was over he eased his friend back into his bed and readjusted the nasal cannula that they had recently given Tony to replace the mask he had before.

"Go back to sleep, Tony."

Tony nodded his thanks before letting his eyelids drop. Sighing Jimmy dug through his backpack until he found highlighter. Noting the time he saw that Agent Gibbs would be here soon, the former Marine had been coming to visit at the same time everyday since Tony had been admitted into the hospital. After several minutes of trying to concentrate on the detail specific aspects of red blood cells Jimmy gave up and returning to keeping watch over Tony. Thinking about it Jimmy thought that Tony was pretty lucky, despite the damage done by Y. Pestis this was actually Tony's first prolonged hospitalization due to respiratory problems since the plague. Tony's doctor, Brad Pitt, was actually quite amazed that in the nearly three years since he survived the plague that Tony had, until now, only needed the occasional ER visit, with only one of those visits ending with Brad keeping Tony overnight just in case, during the flu season.

Jimmy would never forget the barely contained chaos that greeted them once they arrived at the scene. Back up agents were scurrying around trying to secure and document the scene with the help of some metro cops while McGee, a suspiciously soaking wet Tony and Ziva were attending to Gibbs and Maddie. Well, McGee was checking up on Gibbs and Maddie, Ziva was busy trying to convince her partner to take the damn blanket she was holding. Tony did eventually take the offered blanket after threats of bodily harm from Ziva. Afterwards it was all they could do to keep up with Tony as he literally ran around the whole crime scene making sure that everything was in order, for someone wearing completely waterlogged clothing Tony could move pretty fast. That burst of adrenaline lasted until the ambulances carrying Gibbs and Maddie had left the dock, luckily McGee had been close enough by to catch Tony before he got to add a concussion to the list of things that happened that day.

"_Gently now, Timothy," instructed Ducky as McGee helped Tony ease down to the ground before he crouched down to McGee's level. "Anthony," said Ducky gently tapping Tony on his shoulder to get his attention, "I think it's time that you go to the hospital, young man."_

_Normally Tony would have protested such a suggestion but this time he just nodded meekly and with the help of McGee and Ziva managed to get into the car._

"_Mr. Palmer and I will be there shortly, we just have to get our newest guests settled. Now Anthony, I expect you to not give the doctors and nurses a hard time, they are only there to help you, my boy," he said sternly. "I'll be sure to have Bradley meet you there," he told McGee before they drove off._

At the hospital Brad just gave Tony a long-suffering grin, told him that he's lucky that his lungs sound so clear after his fishing trip and that he'd be kept overnight. So the next day Tony was released with some antibiotics, orders from Gibbs and Brad to spend the next two days at home and to take it easy for the next couple of weeks as well as instructions from Brad to Ducky. Tony returned to work after the mandatory two days and for the first couple of days he did take it easy but then they caught a major case. It was a bad one that involved children, they were always the worst, and Gibbs drove his team hard. Jimmy supposed that it shouldn't have come as a surprise that in the pursuit of the perpetrators Tony totally forgot to take it easy, forgetting to take proper care of themselves when they were in the middle of a tough case was a shared habit amongst the team, one that Ducky bemoaned. After almost a week and a half of chasing every possible lead under the sun they finally got the break they needed to catch the bad guy and close the case. The day after they had close the case Tony came to work looking worst than death and Gibbs took one look at his senior field agent before ordering him down to see Ducky. For his part Ducky tried to keep his obvious annoyance at Tony ignoring his health to a minimum while he examined Tony though Jimmy could have sworn that he heard the good doctor muttering under his breath about how of all the bad habits that Tony could have picked up from Gibbs it just had to be that one. Needless to say Ducky's conclusion was that Tony needed to be admitted and they were then met by a very annoyed Dr. Pitt at the Bethesda ER.

The coffee aroma wafting down the hall alerted Jimmy that Gibbs had arrived, right on time.

"Palmer," said Gibbs acknowledging the young man in the room once he entered. Jimmy grabbed his book from the empty and Gibbs grunted his thanks before dragging to the other side of Tony's bed. Never one to beat around the bush Gibbs got straight to the point. "So how's he been today?"

"Better, his color is better and he hasn't been coughing as much in his sleep. Dr. Pitt said that he'd stop by—" glancing down at his watch "—around 12:45."

True to his word Dr. Pitt came strolling into Tony's room at 12:45 on the dot, just as Tony was starting to wake up.

"Hello, Agent Gibbs. Jimmy, how's the studying go?" At the slight grimace that crosses his face Brad smiles at him sympathetically. "That bad, huh?"

"Was it that obvious?"

"I've been there man, I know that it sucks but you'll get through it."

"That's what I keep telling him, Brad," quipped Tony in a raspy voice.

Turning his full attention to his patient Brad smiled as he helped Tony learn forward so that he could listen to his lungs. Once he was done he allowed Tony to lean back onto his bed before addressing everyone in the room.

"Well, Tony, your lungs certainly sound clearer today and your latest test results show some definite improvement and if you don't get worse over the next few days I'd be comfortable discharging you at the end of the week, how does that sound?"

"Awesome, I can't wait."

"But—"

"I knew that was too easy," whined Tony. Jimmy looks down to hide his smirk while Gibbs just rolled his eyes.

"—I don't want you home alone just yet, you may be getting better but you're not out of the woods yet, Tony," Brad finishes.

"That won't be a problem, Brad, DiNozzo's going to be going home with me," Gibbs says speaking up for the first time since Brad appeared.

Brad nodded; he thought that something along those lines would happen.

"Okay, Tony, now that that's settled all you need to do now is just not get worse and you can go home at the end of the week."

"Wait, don't I get a say in this?"

"Nope," replied Gibbs as he moved to pick up the newspaper that was lying on beside table.

"Aw, come on, Boss, I don't need a damn babysitter," whined Tony.

Gibbs snorted.

"DiNozzo, the last time you were told to take it easy for a week you ended up repainting your living room, hallway and spare bedroom."

"But I was going crazy at home, Boss."

"DiNozzo, you were supposed to be _**resting**_."

Tony turns around to Jimmy looking for some support but Jimmy just shakes his head. He is not getting in the middle of this debate because he values his life. Besides, the lead agent isn't wrong, Tony rarely does the resting he's supposed to do unless he's really sick or someone is watching to make sure that he isn't over doing things.

"Thanks a lot, Jimmy," Tony says sourly.

Jimmy just gives him a smirk as he packs up his books.

"Sorry, Tony, but I actually want to live to see my second year of medical school. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Fine, bye, Jimmy."

"Bye Tony, Agent Gibbs, Dr. Pitt."

The two other men wave their goodbyes to Jimmy and the last image that Jimmy saw before he turned around was of Dr. Pitt making some notes on Tony's chart while Gibbs settled into his chair before opening up the newspaper. Jimmy smiled. Tony would be just fine; he had enough people watching out for him to make sure of that.


	19. Family Traditions

_In 'South by Southwest' Tony mentions going to England for his Uncle Clive's funeral, I don't remember if they specifically mention which side of the family he's an uncle for but I'm going to assume that he's his mother's brother so I'm going with the assumption that Tony's mother is from England. Primary school in England goes from 4/5 to 10/11 so it's basically encompassing elementary and maybe the first year of middle school here in the US._

_Spoilers: 5x09 'Lost and Found'_

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"What are you doing?" asked Jimmy leaning over the partition that separated Tony's desk from the main traffic corridor.

"Nothing," replied Tony never taking his eyes off his computer screen.

"You're trying to beat Carson's score, aren't you?"

"Maybe."

"I thought that you already tried to beat Carson's score."

"I did."

"What happened?"

"I spelled capacitor wrong."

"Ah."

"Say, how does Carson know so much about movies anyway?" asked Tony swiveling his chair so that he was now facing Jimmy who was still leaning over the partition.

"Abby mentioned that Carson and his mom would watch movies whenever his father would be gone."

"That's a lot of movies," Tony commented.

"He said that his dad's gone a lot," replied Jimmy shrugging his shoulders.

"You don't say," said Tony quietly before falling silent.

"Sorry, Tony," Jimmy said though he really wasn't sure what he was sorry for. Sorry for bringing up bad memories? Sorry that you had an absentee father? Sorry that your privileged childhood seemed to be lacking the love and attention that all kids want? Maybe a combination of all of the above?

"It's okay, Jimmy," Tony said waving off his friend's concern. "It's not your fault that my father liked spending his time at work rather than at home," he said lightly, trying to give the impression that his father choosing his work over his family didn't hurt even after all these years.

"Tony…"

"No seriously, Palmer," Tony said firmly and Jimmy took it as his cue to drop the subject. The ensuing silence was slightly tense and Tony felt bad, he knew that Jimmy was just trying to be a friend; it wasn't his fault that Tony had to have a train to cart around his emotional baggage. "You know, my mom was the one who loved movies."

Jimmy looked up with interest, Tony rarely talked about his past and practically never mentioned his family or childhood, everything Jimmy knew about Tony's childhood and family he had gleaned from reading in-between the lines.

"Really?"

"According to my Uncle Clive mom was a regular movie buff, she frequented the local movie theater so much that she was on a first name basis with the staff by the time she left primary school," Tony replied smiling. "Sometimes, when it was just the two of us we'd go to the local theater and she and I would trade opinions on the movies we saw. She even got my father into movies when they were dating and then it became a tradition at our house to watch at least one movie together a week."

"That sounds really nice, Tony."

"It was, Jimmy, it was," Tony replied smiling nostalgically at a memory from happier days.


	20. Collateral Damage

_Spoilers: 5x14 'Internal Affairs' _

_Any recognizable dialogue comes from the episode._

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The noise level in the bar was bearable due to the fact that it was slightly less full than usual because it was still a weekday, many of the patrons still had to go to work in the morning. As he looked around Jimmy recognized many agents enjoying a drink or some down time before going home for the night, the bar he had stopped at was one frequented by many of the NCIS agents. Finally at the end of the bar closest to wall he finally saw the person he was looking for, he flipped open his phone and scrolled through his contact list until he found who he was looking for.

"Hey, Abby, I've found him," he said in way of a greeting.

"Oh thank god," replied Abby with a huge sigh of relief. Her relief was short-lived when she realized that she didn't know _where_ Jimmy had found him. "Where are you?"

"At Mike's."

"How bad?"

Jimmy glanced at his friend who was currently downing a drink and judging by the concerned looks of the bartender and the number of empty glasses, Tony had been at it for a while. "Pretty bad."

He heard Abby curse under her breath. "Do you want me to come? I can be there in ten minutes tops."

Jimmy started to shake his head until he remembered that Abby couldn't see him over the phone. "No, not tonight, I can take care of him tonight."

"Okay," she said surprising Jimmy with her willingness to give in so easily but she knew that Tony was in good hands. Jimmy had been a good friend to Tony and tonight he would be taken care of Tony, giving her enough time to formulate her "cheer up Tony" plan. "Take care of him, Jimmy."

"I will," he told her. "What time will you be coming over tomorrow?" he asked her knowing full well that she would be knocking on Tony's door at the first opportunity.

"Sometime in the morning, hopefully the hangover will be bearable by the time I get there."

"Hope so too, night, Abby."

"Night, Palmer," she replied in her cheerful Abby way before disconnecting the call.

Slipping his phone back into his pocket he made his way to the bar. It was a testament to how drunk and lost in thought Tony was that he didn't even realize that Jimmy had joined him until he touched his arm to get his attention.

"Hey, Tony," he said quietly as he gave a silent nod of thanks to Mike after he placed a pitcher of water in front of them.

"Hey, Jimmy, what are you doing here?" asked Tony, his words slightly slurred due to the alcohol.

"I could ask the same of you, Tony," he replied.

"Trying to forget," he said, his words getting more slurred by the minute.

"Tony…" He knew about the day's events even though he had been in class all day. Doctor Mallard and Abby had warned him that he might be getting a visit from the FBI and sure enough, after he got out of one of the larger lecture halls two agents were waiting for him. After they had talked to him for about ten minutes they left, satisfied that he was too far at the periphery to know anything of value. Abby had later called him filling him in on what had happened at headquarters and to ask him if he knew where Tony would disappear to after an emotionally trying day like today.

"She asked me if any of it was real," Tony said out of the blue suddenly more sober.

"What?"

"Before she left, she wanted to know if anything had been real," he said staring straight ahead at a point that only he could see, too busy replaying the conversation in his mind to see the sympathetic look Mike and Jimmy shot him.

"What did you tell her?"

"_Was any of it real, Tony?"_

"_No."_

"_I wish I'd never met you."_

"I told her no."

"What, why?" he asked bewildered. He had never met Jeanne but he would have had to have been blind to not see the effect she had on Tony.

"_Be a man. Go tell her what she needs to hear."_

"It's what she needed to hear, that why," he said. "One of us deserves to be able to move on knowing that it wasn't their fault," he continued before downing the shot he had in front of him.

Jimmy frowned at that statement. They both deserved to move on knowing that the whole mess wasn't their fault, this mess was all Director Shepard's doing. They were both collateral damage, didn't Tony see that? He watched as his friend emptied another glass and not for the first time Jimmy cursed the Director for such an ill-conceived mission. Jimmy pinched the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache start to come on, maybe he should have agreed to let Abby help him collect Tony from the bar. When he finally looked up he saw Mike looking at him with an unreadable expression.

"What should I do?" asked Jimmy quietly, desperate to get some outside help.

Mike leaned over and patted his shoulder sympathetically. "Take him home and just be there for him, Jimmy," the bartender and pub owner advised him.

Jimmy nodded before turning his attention back to his friend. "Come on, Tony, it's time to go," he said as he placed a glass of water in front of him.

Any protest that Tony might have had was abruptly aborted once he heard the tone of Jimmy's voice. Nodding he clumsily fumbled through his wallet to find the appropriate bills before tossing them onto the bar. Between Jimmy and Mike the two men were able to maneuver Tony's lanky frame into the car.

"Will you be alright getting home?" asked Mike after he shut the car door.

"Yeah, thanks for everything, Mike."

"Don't mention it, guess it was a really hard day," the older man said as he glanced at Tony who was blissfully oblivious to the conversation happening just a few feet above his head.

"It was," Jimmy confirmed.

Tony, thankfully, managed to not be sick in the time it took Jimmy to drive to his place. The minute he opened the passenger side door, however, he was sick, after he finished puking his guts out Jimmy helped him into his house and really wished that Tony's bedroom was on the ground floor because he didn't think that he'd be able to get Tony up the stairs and to his room without causing them both to fall down the stairs. Opting instead to place his friend in the spare bedroom, which thankfully was on the ground floor, he practically dragged the taller man to the room and after a little bit of work managed to get him under the covers. After a few moments he returned with a trashcan, which he placed by Tony's head, a bottle of aspirin and a water bottle and placed his shoes in the hall closet by the entrance way. He then made himself comfortable on the couch; he'd stay for at least an hour, just to be sure.


	21. Not My Story to Tell

_We never do learn if Tony ever found out about what happened to Nkki's brother after he got out or Iraq but assume he did. Also, assume that American University has online classes because I don't know if they do for real._

_Spoilers: 5x15 'In the Zone'_

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"Hey, Jimmy, what do you know about comas?" asks Tony from behind his laptop screen where he is merrily typing away.

Jimmy raises an eyebrow. "I thought that you were writing an essay about the use of film as a propaganda tool, not an essay about comas," he remarks.

Tony just rolls his eyes. "Not the point, Palmer."

Jimmy looks up from the book about gross anatomy to find that Tony is looking at him expectantly. They are once again in the George Washington University library; it had become a weekly ritual for them to meet up in one of the libraries and to study together. Jimmy surrounded by his medical textbooks and Tony with his books on film or with his laptop writing another essay. Ever since his time with Jeanne Tony found that he actually liked taking the film classes and had been in talks with the dean of the school and director of the program wanting to know if it was possible for him to be in, assuming he gets accepted of course, the Master's program with a job as unpredictable as his. It had been decided that they could accommodate his schedule now that they recently added many of their Master's level courses to their ever growing on-line class option so they encouraged him to apply. Tony had applied and was accepted and after working out the days that he'd have to leave early with Gibbs the Director became a part-time graduate student at American University.

"Well, it depends, what do you want to know about them?"

"Um, everything?"

"Well, then I guess we should start with the causes for comas, for example: traumatic brain injuries, lack of oxygen, diabetes, stroke, toxins and infections are just examples of some of the causes."

"What about the chances of coming out of one?"

Jimmy frowned, unsure of how to answer that question. There were so many variables involved that it was almost impossible to say how long someone would be in a coma for, what kind of, if any, permanent damage was sustained or even if they would ever come out of the coma.

"That depends."

"On what?"

"Many things, the cause of the coma and the duration are two major things though. We haven't covered neurology in-depth yet, Tony," he said apologetically.

"It's okay, Jimmy."

"Does your sudden interest in neurology and comas have anything to do with Nikki?"

"Not my story to tell, Palmer."

"Okay but if you want, I can direct you to some books and journal articles that might be helpful."

"That'd be great, thanks, Palmer."


	22. Good Job, Jimmy

_Cause who wasn't rooting for Jimmy when he crashed his car into the bad guy's car?_

_Spoilers: 5x17 'About Face'_

_

* * *

_

After Gibbs, McGee and Ziva had returned to NCIS with Milo Suskavcevic and his brother it was just Tony and Jimmy. The senior field agent had volunteered to stay with Palmer as they waited for a tow truck to bring the medical student's car to a local garage.

"You okay, Palmer?" asked Tony concerned that his friend had managed to get something worse than a bloody nose.

Jimmy thought about it for a moment, well, his nose definitely hurt but he'd live and aside from getting the wind knocked out of him when the airbag deployed he was fine.

"Yeah."

"Positive?"

"Yup."

"Good."

It was the only warning Jimmy got before Tony's hand connected with the back of his head.

"Ow! What was that for?" demanded Jimmy as he looked at Tony crossly.

"What the hell were you thinking, Palmer?" bellowed Tony.

"I couldn't just let him get away!"

"He had a gun, Palmer! He could have shot you!"

"But he didn't!"

"That's not the point, Palmer," Tony replied angrily before barreling ahead and preventing Jimmy from interrupting. "He was going to, things could have ended up much worse if Gibbs had gotten there just a half second later. What would I have told Lauren and your parents then?" asked Tony softly.

Jimmy looked at Tony stunned, he hadn't thought of _that_. At the time all he had been focused on was that the bad guy was going to get away because he had slipped out before the team had even opened the trailer door.

"Exactly, Palmer."

The silence had reached almost stifling levels by the time the tow truck had arrived. The truck driver was friendly and chatted at an almost nonstop pace reminding them of taxi drivers and they were grateful for the buffer and distraction. At the garage the mechanic told Jimmy that the damage was minor enough that it shouldn't take more than two weeks to complete and Jimmy sighed wondering how he was going to get to class now. The owner took pity on them and offered them a lift to the Navy Yard when he heard that that was were they were heading. In no time at all they had made it back to NCIS but Tony stopped him before he could walk through the front doors. He looked at Tony warily wondering what else the older man was going to berate him about.

"Good job, Jimmy," he said before walking through the main entrance leaving behind a surprised Jimmy.


	23. Safekeeping

_Spoilers: 5x18 'Judgment Day Part 1', 5x19 'Judgment Day Part 2', slight mentions of 5x01 'Bury Your Dead_

_

* * *

_

"What? No!" cried Abby not letting go of Tony or Ziva. "Gibbs, you can't let this happen!"

"Abby, it's out of his hands," Tony explained gently as he disentangled himself and Ziva from Abby's bone crushing hug. Instead of answering Abby just engulfed him in another hug, over the top of Abby's head he could see Ducky and Palmer looking at upsetting scene with equal looks of immense sadness.

--

The knocking was a surprise to Jimmy, he wasn't expecting any visitors. Curious to see who his visitor was he quickly walked to the door and was surprised to see Tony standing there with a small box. Allowing the other man to enter the apartment Jimmy noted that Tony still wore the suit he had worn to Director Shepard's funeral, now rumpled from hours of wear, but wisely chose to not comment on that fact.

"I'm leaving first thing tomorrow morning," Tony said simply before placing the small box on top of Palmer's coffee table

"I know," Jimmy said before letting silence reign. He wasn't sure what to say, should he say goodbye? Tell him that Gibbs would have him back before he knew it? _'You don't even know if Gibbs would be able to do anything, giving him false hope would just be cruel'_ said a voice that sounded remarkably like Lauren. Should he try to tell Tony, once again, that it wasn't his fault? He already tried that once, it didn't go very well.

--

"_She's dead," he said simply after Jimmy had ushered him into an empty conference room._

"_I know, I'm sorry."_

"_I killed her," he said quietly gripping the chair in front of him so hard that his knuckles were turning white._

"_Tony, it wasn't your fault," he said trying to reassure his friend._

"_How would you know? You weren't there!" he shot back._

_To his credit Jimmy didn't flinch at the anger in Tony's voice, he knew it wasn't directed at him. "No, I wasn't but I know you and I know that you wouldn't have let it happen if you could help it."_

"_Maybe you don't know me as well as you think you do, Palmer," Tony said quietly before leaving the conference room._

--

"I already talked to Abby and she agreed to look after things for me," he began, explaining where he and the Goth had disappeared to once they had been given permission to get their affairs in order. "It's not that I don't trust her to do a good job, I do, it's just…"

"I'll be happy to, Tony," Jimmy said finishing Tony's thought.

He smiled for the first time in so many days, a smile that was just a ghost of his usual smile but Jimmy would take what he could get, an unsmiling Tony was just unsettling. Clearing his throat he gestured towards the box on the coffee table. "It's um, just a few things that I wanted to know if you could keep safe for me, for the time being," he said as he watched Jimmy open and look through the box.

As Jimmy looked through the box he found the books Tony used for his graduate classes, guess those were on hold for the moment, some pictures, some magazines and an envelope in his American Pie mug.

"I know how much you like that mug," Tony said in answer to Jimmy's surprised look. "I was hoping you could keep it safe for me, I don't think that it would fair well on a ship."

"Of course, I will, Tony," Jimmy replied sincerely as he moved to open the manila envelope.

"I've got to go, got a couple of other stops to make," Tony said, stopping Jimmy from opening the envelope. "Bye, Jimmy."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Tony."

--

The scene at NCIS headquarters was just as upsetting as it had been yesterday and all the agents gave Agent Gibbs' team as much privacy as the squad room allowed, feeling as if they were all intruding on an extremely private moment.

"Abby," Tony said his voice slightly muffled from her hair, "I've really got to go."

"I know," Abby said her voice just as muffled from having her face pressed into Tony's chest but she made no move to let him go. Finally after what seemed like an eternity she let him go only to grab Ziva instead and Jimmy could see unshed tears threatening to fall from the eyes of the normally stoic Mossad operative.

"Anthony, do take care of yourself," Ducky said engulfing him into a grandfatherly hug.

"I will," Tony said nodding, "thanks for everything, Ducky."

"You're quite welcome, my boy."

Tony then moved on to McGee while Ducky went to say his goodbyes to Ziva. "Take care of yourself, Probie," he said. McGee nodded. "Take care of them," he said in a quiet undertone.

"I will," McGee replied just as quietly.

"Goodbye, Jimmy," Tony said solemnly before stretching out his hand.

"Goodbye, Tony," he replied just as sadly shaking his hand, "and don't worry, I've got it covered." Tony nodded while McGee and Ziva looked on confused. When Tony had left Jimmy had finally opened the envelope and found a key to Tony's townhouse, a short letter and then some legal papers that showed that while Abby or Gibbs would be the primary executors in case something were to happen he had also listed Jimmy and Ducky in case Abby or Gibbs couldn't do it. Turning he found himself face to face with Ziva and pulled her into a hug. "Bye Ziva, I'll miss you."

"I will miss you too, Jimmy," she said sadly remembering how it had taken him nearly a year to not be overtly afraid of her; she would miss the man she thought of as an awkward younger brother.

"Boss…" Gibbs just looked at Tony. "Gibbs," he amended and Gibbs just nodded before picking up his car keys, he was dropping Ziva and Tony off and would say his goodbyes to his former senior field agent and former liaison officer privately. The rest of them watched as the elevator doors closed on the silent trio.


	24. Come Home Soon

_So I meant to have this up earlier but the site had been refusing to let me upload anything until now. We've finally reached season six, hopefully I can get the rest of the chapters out before the season premier. *crosses fingers*_

_This chapter definitely lacks any sort of interaction between Tony and Jimmy but seeing as Tony was out at sea for the entire episode it's understandable, instead, Jimmy and Abby discuss how much they miss their friend._

_Spoilers: 5x18 'Judgment Day Part 1', 5x19 'Judgment Day Part 2', 6x01 'Last Man Standing'_

_

* * *

_

Jimmy opened up his email and was happy to see a reply from Tony, clicking the email his smile quickly disappeared once he read it.

_Palmer,_

_Being the only cop here sucks. At least the weather's nice, I guess._

_-Tony_

Sighing he placed the email into the archive before logging off, the day was done and Jimmy, for one, couldn't be happier. Looking at his watch he saw that he could just catch Abby before she left for the day, ever since Director Vance had split up Gibbs' team the few that remained had become closer. Jimmy and Ducky would often visit Abby or the team up in the squad room but ever since Vance had sent them on their separate ways Jimmy made it point to visit Abby more often and she did the same. He smiled when he saw her in her lab powering down her babies for the night. Looking past Abby he saw her collection of postcards from Tony on the wall, as far as Jimmy knew she was the only one aside from him that Tony kept in regular contact with.

"Hey, Abby."

"Hi, Jimmy!" she said smiling brightly at him. "Did you hear the good news? McGee and Ziva are coming back!"

He smiled; they had celebrated down in autopsy once the news had become official. "Yup, I heard. Ziva should be arriving sometime tomorrow, right?"

"Yup," Abby replied grinning. "Now all Gibbs needs to do is get Tony back and everything can go back to the way it was. "

Jimmy didn't let his smile falter, after the events in LA and the fallout from it he doubted that things could ever be the same again; no matter how much Abby believed it would be.

"Have you heard from Tony lately?" asked Abby as they entered the elevator.

"I just got an email from him today actually."

"Really? What did he say? Did he seem happy?"

"Um…"

"Thought so," said Abby nodding her head thoughtfully.

"He really misses home."

"I know," replied Abby sighing heavily before brightening up, "but don't worry, Jimmy, Gibbs is on it and Tony will be back in no time."

At the parking garage they parted ways and once at home Jimmy powered up his laptop. He typed up a quick email as he waited for the leftovers to heat up on the stove.

_Tony,_

_We all miss you. Don't give up; Abby hasn't stopped lobbying Gibbs for your return yet._

_-Jimmy_


	25. Welcome Home

_Many thanks to all those who've reviewed/put this on their alerts or favorites, you guys are awesome. ^_^_

_Spoilers: 6x02 'Agent Afloat'_

* * *

"I'm so happy you're home, Tony" said Abby before giving him one of her bone crushing hugs in Tony's foyer.

"Me too, Abs, me too," Tony said returning the hug with almost as much gusto as Abby. After Tony had delivered the good news at headquarters Abby had convinced everyone, even Gibbs, to go over to Mike's for a couple of drinks. Mike and Cheryl had been so glad to see them all again and gave them a round of free drinks as they talked and laughed just like old times while Tony recounted some of his more zany stories as Agent Afloat. The highlight to Tony's evening came when for a couple of minutes it was just the two of them, Gibbs and Tony, at the table and the older man told him that he did a good job while Agent Afloat. When the rest of the group returned they found the two agents swapping stories about their time as Agent Afloat. All too soon it was time to call it a night and Abby offered him a ride home.

"Gibbs said that he'd be over first thing in the morning," she reminded him, the former Marine had been housing Tony's car while he had been at sea. "It's so good to have you home!" she squealed giving him one last hug before skipping, well, as best as one could skip in three inch platforms, down his walkway to her hearse.

Tony waved one last time before shutting his front door and letting out one satisfied sigh. Walking slowly around the first floor he reacquainted himself with the few possessions still in his home, the rest had been stored with Abby or Gibbs. Despite having been gone for four months his house doesn't have that stuffy, abandoned feel to it that homes often got when their occupants have gone on an extended vacation, he supposed that he had Abby to thank for that, he really did need to take her out to that new restaurant she had been raving about on the way home as a thank you. After his walk through Tony collapsed on his couch and for the first time Tony notices a small potted ivy sitting in the center of his coffee table. He raises his eyebrows, he's never seen the plant before, the only time he's ever had plant life of any sort in his home is when he gets bouquets after getting out of the hospital or from Abby on his birthday. It's then that he notices the small white card leaning lightly against the pot and he smiles when he sees the familiar handwriting. Palmer.

_Tony,_

_Something to keep you company. Welcome home!_

_-Jimmy_

Tony smiled; it was good to be home.

--

The following morning Tony is up bright and early and ready to go when Gibbs appears. During the ride to his house Tony keeps up a constant stream of chatter until Gibbs tells him to shut his trap but there's no bark behind that order, truth is Gibbs has missed Tony's constant chatter and movie references, the past four months have been too quiet.

"You eat yet?" he asks right as they pull into the driveway.

"Yeah," Tony replies. This morning when he bothered to check his fridge he found it fully stocked with food, actually it had more food than it would normally have, courtesy of Abby along with a six pack of Tony's favorite beer from Palmer. A full fridge is not the only surprise his kitchen has, he finds his cabinets also well-stocked along with a sticky note from Abby, he makes a note to call the restaurant during his lunch break and make a reservation for later on this week. Gibbs just nods as Tony gets out of the car and makes his way to his baby. He lovingly caresses the hood of the car, god, he missed his baby.

"Hey, DiNozzo, get your ass to work!" Gibbs barks but there's a small smile playing on his lips and Tony knows that it's just Gibbs' way of saying welcome home.

"Meet you there, Boss," he says with a smile and with a final nod Gibbs gets back in his car and is off with Tony not far behind him.

He and Gibbs are the first ones to arrive, not that it's a surprise to Tony, and when he catches sight of his desk he can't help but smile, everything is right where he had left it all those months ago. He wonders who he has to thank for that. It's a slow day, no new cases, but Tony doesn't mind, it gives him a chance to relish just sitting at _his_ desk and just working without the constant rocking of a ship or noise from the carrier. During his lunch break he makes that call and smiles, the restaurant's prices are exorbitant but Abby would totally love it. Deciding that he still has time before Gibbs comes looking for him he makes his way down to Abby's lab and autopsy. Abby's reaction was just like he expected and once she finally lets go of him and his lungs are sufficiently happy with him he tells her that he'll pick her up on Friday at eight.

"Hey, Jimmy," Tony says cheerfully when he enters autopsy.

"Hey Tony," he replies brightly, "to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Just wanted to say thanks…for everything," he says awkwardly, he doesn't have much practice with this sort of thing, not with guys at least.

Jimmy just smiles. "It wasn't a problem, Tony."

"Just have one question."

"Shoot."

"What's with the plant?"

"You need to have something alive in your house, Tony," the other man tells him, "that way it feels more homey."

"But ivy, Jimmy?"

Jimmy just shrugs. "Well, it was either that or a goldfish."

Tony is silent as he thinks back to the last time he had a pet fish, it was back in Philadelphia, his partner's kid, Michael, gave it to him as a present. Tony loved that fish, he really did, but he spent more time at the station than his apartment and when he was home he was usually too exhausted to do anything but head straight to bed. After almost two months he thought that it would just be cruel to leave a fish in his care since it would most likely starve to death and explained to Michael that while he really did appreciate the gift his lifestyle wasn't all that good for a fish. He hasn't had a pet fish since and his job has gotten even more unpredictable. Yeah, a plant was probably a better choice than a fish; at least Tony wouldn't feel too guilty if it died.

"Oh here, guess you want this back now," Jimmy says as he reaches for his key ring so that he can take the key to Tony's townhouse off.

"No, keep it, in case of emergencies or if I ever need you to house sit again," he explains.

Jimmy smiles brightly and grabs the American Pie mug off his desk. "Here, I took really good care of it while you were gone."

Tony returns the smile with one just as bright. "Thanks, Jimmy, I knew you would," he tells the other man sincerely.

"Welcome home, Tony."

Back up in the squad room Tony places the mug and his desk and looks around with a big grin on his face. It was _really_ good to be home.


	26. Balance

_So one week until the premiere, who's excited? I know I am._

_Spoilers: 6x07 'Collateral Damage'_

_

* * *

_

"What did you think about the new recruits?" asked Jimmy over their Thai food.

Tony shrugs as he chases a piece of chicken in his pad thai with chopsticks. "Young, eager to please, nervous, like any new recruit."

"What about the recruit that Vance placed with you guys?"

"He's got good instincts and by the end Gibbs seemed to like him but I don't think Vance likes him, probably why he stuck him with Gibbs."

Jimmy looks at Tony confused. "I don't follow."

"Dwayne is kind of like Gibbs, street smarts, good at improvising and good instincts, nothing at all like Vance. Vance likes agents more like McGee, agents savvy with technology, not like Gibbs or…me."

"You and Agent Gibbs may not be like Director Vance or McGee but it doesn't mean that you're any less valuable to the agency."

Tony shrugs. "So you say."

"You know, in medical school they tell us that practicing medicine is a balance between the science and the art. The best doctors don't just know the medical aspect but can also relate to their patients."

"Your point, Palmer?"

"That you need both technical and scientific knowledge as well as the ability to relate with people in order to be a good doctor."

"NCIS is not med school, Palmer."

"No, but to be an effective investigative agency NCIS would still need a balance between agents knowledgeable about the latest technologies and how to use them to help solve crimes but also agents who excel at the field work aspect, the physical tracking down of leads, talking to witnesses, suspects, ect."

Tony nodded but didn't say anything and the two of them finished the rest of their food in a companionable silence. They watched the game and then Jimmy left at end; nothing else was said about their earlier conversation all night.

--

Jimmy rubbed his eyes tiredly; he had spent the last three nights studying all night long, finally giving into sleep when he heard the first birds begin to wake. He glances at his watch and finds that it's only noon but it's been a slow day today and there are no new bodies that need to be autopsied, just some paperwork to get caught on. He figures that it's the perfect time for his lunch break; he's asleep before his head hits the desk. That's how Tony finds him when he enters autopsy just fifteen minute later carrying a paper bag from the diner that Jimmy really likes in one hand and coffee just the way the younger man likes it in the other. He smiled at the sight that greeted him, he had been planning on taking a lunch break with the medical student but apparently he'd have to take a rain check. As quietly as he can he makes room for the food in coffee on Jimmy's desk so that he can clearly see it but the food and the coffee won't be in any danger of being knocked over. He then picks up Jimmy's cell phone and sets the alarm, while he's sure that Ducky would understand why Jimmy was currently passed out at his desk, he had been a medical student too many years ago, he knew that his friend didn't want to be caught sleeping on the job. Placing the phone within easy reach and hearing range Tony gently lifts Palmer's head and places his glasses in easy reach.

"Have a good nap, Jimmy," he says quietly before leaving autopsy.


	27. A Stiff Drink

_Spoilers: 6x08 'Cloak'_

_

* * *

_

They watched, mouths open, as Michelle Lee walked out of the squad room still a free woman.

"Did that just happen?" asked Tony to no one in particular.

"Yes, Tony, I think it just did," replied McGee, just as shocked.

"But Gibbs wouldn't just let her leave, would he? I mean, it's Gibbs for crying out loud!" Tony retorted.

"Apparently he did, Tony," Ziva told her partner. "I am sure that he has a good reason for it, Tony."

"Yeah, but it's not like he's going to share it with us," he said bitterly under his breath. Though on the outside it seemed as if he had forgiven Gibbs for leaving them in the dark during the failed Domino operation he was still angry at Gibbs but he was also a professional and was capable of setting aside his anger in order to get the job done, there would be time to blow up at Gibbs later but now they had to catch whoever Michelle was going to give Domino to.

"Since it appears that we will not be learning anything more tonight I think that it would be best if we all just went home. Obviously Gibbs and the Director feel that Agent Lee will not try to escape so there is nothing more that we can do until the morning," Ziva said as she got her things ready.

"Fine," Tony said sourly but he too threw what he needed into his pack before following McGee and Ziva into the elevator with Jimmy right behind him. Not a word is spoken the entire ride down to the parking garage and even once they've reached the parking garage the most they do is give silent nods of good-night to each other. Jimmy's car is parked next to Tony but the younger man doesn't say good-night, just gets into his car and drives off, unaware that Tony is following him. When he finally gets to his apartment Jimmy is surprised to see Tony there waiting for him, one of these days he's going to make Tony tell him that shortcut. "Come on," the older man says as he opens the passenger side door, "my treat."

Jimmy just nods and nothing is said until they get to that bar that's close to both their homes and Tony orders for the both of them.

"It's not your fault, you know," Tony said after they've both had one drink a piece.

"What?"

"It's not your fault that you didn't know, she had everyone fooled, Jimmy."

"Yeah, but I was sleeping with her," he said angrily before downing the shot of tequila in front of him.

"Still doesn't make it your fault, Jimmy."

"Why didn't I see it?" he murmured quietly but with his sharp hearing Tony still heard it.

"Jimmy, just because you're sleeping with some one doesn't mean that you know everything about them, besides, you said so yourself your relationship was more physical than anything else."

"I didn't even know she had a sister, daughter, whatever," Jimmy said quietly after a couple of more drinks though if Jimmy had been paying attention he would have noticed that aside from that one beer at the beginning Tony's been drinking water.

"No one did, Jimmy, no one did," Tony said as he glanced over at his young friend, Jimmy had already had two drinks and two shots and was on his way to being quite properly drunk. Deciding that he should put a stop to it now, Palmer would thank in the morning when his hangover was not so bad, he paid for their drinks before placing his hand on Jimmy's shoulder. "Come on, let's get out of here," he said once he had the medical student's attention. "You don't have class in the morning, do you?"

Jimmy shook his head, an action he immediately regretted when Tony's already fuzzy image turned into two Tonys.

"Good, you can crash at my place, let's go," Tony replied helping steady Jimmy and carefully leading him out of the bar. Once back at his townhouse Tony was happy for his foresight when it came to making sure his guest room was always ready, he never knew when Abby might need a place to crash after a crazy night out. When Tony returns to his spare room with a bottle of aspirin and a bottle of water with him he finds Jimmy fast asleep in what has got to be one uncomfortable sleeping position. Placing the aspirin and water on the bedside table within easy reach he gently rouses the younger man from his sleep and Jimmy looks at him blearily, half asleep and half awake.

"Come on, Palmer, you can't possibility be comfortable that way."

Instead of answering Jimmy gets comfortable in a position that won't wreak havoc on his neck and back and is fast asleep before Tony even makes it to the doorway.

"Good night, Jimmy," he says quietly before turning off the light.


	28. You Don't Have To Go It Alone

_Since today was the season opener I decided to celebrate with a brand new chapter. :) So, people's thoughts on the season opener? I personally enjoyed it, there was humor, banter and a team feeling again!_

_Spoilers: 6x09 'Dagger'_

_

* * *

_

Jimmy stood in front of his bedroom mirror trying to get his tie to cooperate with him but fifteen minutes since he started the process he had made no progress. Why was it so hard? It shouldn't be so hard, he's worn ties before. Before he could continue to wonder why he couldn't get his tie to cooperate today he heard knocking on his front door. When he opened up the door he found Tony standing there in his black suit, the one he wore to funerals. Tony raised an eyebrow when his gaze lands on the problem tie in Jimmy's hand.

"I'll be ready in a few minutes," Jimmy said in reply to the silent question before heading to the small hallway mirror Lauren had insisted he get when he asked her to help him decorate his apartment.

Tony stood in the doorway silently observing his friend; even from a distance he could make out that Jimmy's fingers weren't going to cooperate long enough for him to actually do the tie. Deciding that they could literally be here all day long Tony stepped in and quickly and efficiently knotted the tie.

"I told you, Jimmy, you don't have to do this alone," he said quietly as he led Jimmy to his car.

--

_The truck arrived while the paramedics were checking out Amanda. Ziva was the first one to spot the pair getting out of the truck, her cursing in Hebrew got Tony's attention. He quickly made his way to the truck and pulled Ducky aside._

"_Anthony, what is the meaning of this?" demanded Ducky._

"_Michelle's dead, Ducky," he said flatly._

"_Oh dear, how?"_

"_Gibbs shot her," he said just as flatly. _

"_Why on Earth would he do such a thing?"_

"_Apparently she let him," he replied. "Look, Ducky, you should ask Gibbs, I'm still trying to figure it out myself," Tony said._

"_Of course, but first I need to talk to Mr. Palmer."_

"_I'll do it," Tony said._

"_Are you sure?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Do you want me to come with you?" asked Ducky looking closely at Tony._

"_Could you?" asked Tony eternally relieved to find out that he didn't have to face Jimmy on his own when he broke the news. _

"_Of course," Ducky replied as he steered Tony toward the back of the van where Jimmy was currently getting the equipment._

"_I'll just be a minute, Doctor," Jimmy said distractedly as he reached into a drawer in the back of the truck._

"_It can wait, Mr. Palmer."_

_Jimmy stopped what he was doing and looked up to find both Tony and Ducky looking at him with grave expressions on their faces. "What is it?"_

"_Jimmy, I need to talk to you," Tony said seriously._

"_About what?"_

"_It would be better if you were sitting down when I tell you, Jimmy," Tony said as he pushed Jimmy down on the bumper._

"_What's going on?" Jimmy demanded. Why did Tony and Ducky have sympathetic looks on their faces?_

_Tony took a deep breath, 'like ripping off a band aid' he told himself. "Jimmy, Michelle's dead, I'm sorry."_

_For a couple of seconds Jimmy resembled a goldfish. "What? What do you mean she's dead? How?!"_

"_She was shot," Tony said, deliberately leaving out the part where it was Gibbs who did the shooting._

"_How?" asked Jimmy once again and Italian and Spanish curse words ran through Tony's head, he had seriously been hoping that Jimmy wouldn't ask that._

"_She was caught in the crossfire, Jimmy," Ducky said gently. The sound of some one calling him caught his attention and when he looked up he saw Gibbs waving him over. "Oh dear, I should get going, Jethro was never a patient man."_

"_I, uh, should go too," Jimmy replied as he blindly groped for the bag._

"_It's okay, Mr. Palmer, you don't have to," Ducky told him gently._

"_I need to just get the bag and then I'll be ready," Jimmy said before abruptly getting up and disappearing back into the truck._

"_Jimmy…" _

"_It's okay, Anthony, let him," Ducky said after he had led Tony away._

"_Are you sure?" asked Tony glancing back at the truck._

"_Yes, I'll watch out for him."_

"_Okay," Tony said letting his shoulders slump a bit, "just tell him that he's not alone."_

"_Of course."_

--

The funeral was more awkward that Tony could have imagined. Aside from the team and Ducky, Abby, Jimmy and Director Vance no one else at NCIS knew the true circumstances surrounding Michelle's death; the official PR story was that she was an unfortunate victim of a shooting as NCIS had tried to apprehend a criminal, she hadn't been on duty and the agents hadn't seen her until after the suspect had been shot, she had been one of the innocent bystanders he managed to shoot before he had been taken down. A couple of her colleagues from legal spoke of her dedication to the job, her aunt talked about how good of a sister and then later a mother she was to Amanda and a couple of friends talked about how much fun and full of life Lee had always been, Tony wondered if they had known the same person he had. The most poignant eulogy, the one that reminded Tony that while she might have been flawed and guilty of treason Michelle did have a good side, was also the one that he had the most trouble listening to, the one from Amanda herself. Glancing over at Jimmy he saw that the younger man was busy staring at some point on the far wall, he'd been doing that since the start of the funeral. Tony couldn't blame him. Yes, Jimmy's relationship with Michelle might have been more physical than anything else and perhaps the only or strongest emotion he had felt for her had been lust but even sexual attraction could have its own hold over a person, Tony should know; it's happened to him before. Out of the corner of his eye he saw McGee hiding in the corner, he had come in shortly after the start of the service and like the two of them had chosen to sit in the back. At the end of the service they hung back as everyone went to give Amanda and her aunt their condolences, unsure if they should still stick around.

"Were you friends with Michelle?" the kindly aunt asked them and it suddenly dawned on them that the majority of mourners had left, already on their way to the cemetery.

Tony glanced quickly at McGee and Jimmy but neither man offered up an answer. She had been McGee's probie, Tony's junior agent during his stint as team leader and Jimmy's lover. Did that make them her friends? Tony wasn't sure.

"We worked with Michelle," Tony finally said. "We're sorry for your loss."

"Thank you," the aunt said sincerely, her eyes wet with unshed tears. "We'll see you at the cemetery then."

Tony, unsure of how to answer that, just nodded. The aunt took it as a yes and then led Amanda to the waiting car.

"We should go," Tony said quietly, breaking the heavy silence. "Tim, do you need a ride home?"

If McGee was at all surprised at Tony calling him Tim he didn't show it, instead he just shook his head. "No, I drove here."

"Okay," Tony replied they walked to where their cars were parked. "Hey, McGee." McGee looked up over the top of his car. "If you ever need to talk…"

"I know, thanks, Tony," McGee said smiling gratefully. "Take care of yourself, okay?"

"You too, McGee."

--

The ride back to Tony's townhouse was silent. If Jimmy actually noticed that Tony wasn't driving towards his apartment he didn't say anything. He didn't protest when Tony all but ushered him into the kitchen and then placed a glass with a clear liquid in front of him. He did, however, almost choke on it when he tried to swallow, he hadn't been expecting gin.

"I think today calls for something a bit stronger," Tony said in response to Jimmy's raised eyebrow.

"Why?" Jimmy finally asked nearly ten minutes after they had arrived at Tony's place.

"Why what, Jimmy?"

"Why did you even agree to come? She betrayed everyone; she killed another agent and an innocent man, so why did you agree to come?"

"Because, Jimmy, no one should have to go it alone."

Hours later, after Jimmy had eventually fallen asleep in Tony's spare room from exhaustion and alcohol, Tony made a phone call.

"Hey Ducky, I know It's late."

"_It's quite alright, Tony. Today was Michelle's funeral service, was it not?"_

"Yeah, the service was today."

"_How is our young friend?"_

"Sad, angry, confused but in the long run he'll be fine."


	29. Never Too Late

_So I know that in 'South By Southwest' it seems like Tony has no idea how to ride a horse but given where he grew up and what social class he would have been in I kind of find it hard to believe that he wouldn't at least know the basics so in my head I've decided that Tony hasn't ridden a horse since he graduated from high school and that even when he did do some horseback riding he wasn't particularly good at it. Also, since we learn in 'South by Southwest' that Tony has an Uncle Clive and a cousin Crispian but we don't know of any other relatives so I've decided that there are more relatives in England.  
_

_Any recognizable dialogue comes from 'Silent Night'_

_Spoilers: 6x11 'Silent Night'_

_

* * *

_

_Two weeks before 'Silent Night'_

"Come on, Tony."

"No."

"You're not going to be intruding."

"No, seriously, Jimmy, it's okay," Tony said trying to get Jimmy to drop the subject.

Jimmy sighed before deciding to play his trump card. "Lizzy and Kevin will be so disappointed."

Tony scowled at Jimmy. "That's not fair."

"I know," Jimmy said smirking; there was no way that Tony would disappoint Kevin and Lizzy, no way in hell. "So, what do you say?"

Tony sighed in defeat when he realized that Jimmy had effectively painted him into a corner. "Fine."

Jimmy smiled. "I'll tell Lauren," he said happily. While Tony would never admit it out loud Jimmy suspected that the senior field agent secretly liked the fussing and mothering that Lauren had a habit of showering on Tony whenever she saw him.

--

_December 22nd_

Tony waited for Skype to connect.

"Hi, Uncle Clive," Tony said brightly as he waved. "Happy Christmas."

"Anthony! Happy Christmas, my boy," the elderly Englishman said jovially. "How've you been? Are you eating well?"

Tony couldn't resist rolling his eyes, what was it with relatives asking him if he's eating well? "I'm fine, Uncle Clive, and yes, I'm eating well."

Uncle Clive looked like he didn't believe him but he let it pass. "So are there any great nieces or nephews for me to spoil yet, Anthony?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, Uncle Clive, but no."

"What about that lovely young woman you were crazy about a year and a half ago? You haven't talked about her in a while, what happened to her?"

Tony swallowed, he had forgotten that he had told Uncle Clive about Jeanne, his uncle had been thrilled to hear that he had finally found a girl and had told him that it was about time.

"Um, we broke up," he replied quietly.

"I'm sorry," Uncle Clive said with genuine sympathy in his voice, he had been hoping that that young woman that Tony had been smitten with would be the one he would settle down with. It had been the happiest he'd seen his nephew since his possibly his childhood or college.

"It's okay," Tony quickly replied as he flashed a patented DiNozzo grin, a trick his uncle really wished he hadn't learned from his father. "So tell me about what's new with Crispian?" Tony asked in an attempt to get his uncle from asking more questions about his personal life. He'd never liked Crispian, not since he spent that summer with his uncle and, to his disappointment, his cousin. He still couldn't figure out how a guy as cool as his Uncle Clive could have a kid as snotty and as uptight as Crispian.

"Tony," said Uncle Clive seriously after ten minutes of stories and news and that got Tony's attention, Uncle Clive hardly called him Tony unless he really wanted Tony to pay attention to what he was about to say. "Have you talked to your father recently?"

Tony inwardly groaned he had been hoping that this time Uncle Clive wouldn't bother asking this time but he really shouldn't be surprised, Uncle Clive was always pushing for him to talk and reconcile with his father every time they talked.

"No," he said defiantly.

"Tony…"

"Why should I? It's not like he talks to me," he replied bitterly.

"Please try, Tony, your mother would be beside herself if she knew how much your relationship had deteriorated."

Before Tony could come up with a reply the door to his uncle's study was thrown open by his cousin Rose.

"Uncle Clive, what on Earth are you doing? Mum and Aunt Marjorie are getting impatient; Aunt Marjorie says that it you're not out there—"

"Hi, Rose!"

Rose turned to look at the computer screen and smiled brightly when she saw Tony. "Tony! It's been ages! Why haven't you called me?" she demanded.

"Sorry, Rose, I've been kind of busy, we got a string of cases and well, you know how it is…" Tony replied sheepishly.

She nods, ever since Tony started working NCIS she had gotten used to the times when he wouldn't be able to call her regularly or getting calls at odd times.

"So how've you been?"

"I'm fine, how are Michael and the kids?"

"Michael is fine and Emmy and Alex are driving me insane, what else is new? So tell me, Tony, will you be visiting us anytime soon? It's been ages since you've been here," she reminded him and it was true, the last time he had been able to visit his mother's family had been shortly after Kate's death.

"I do have some vacation time saved up," he replied off handedly, human resources was practically begging to take some of the vacation time he had, "If it's okay with my boss maybe I can come visit next month."

"Oh wonderful, we have our annual game of arena polo then, you can play if you want, Anthony," said his uncle smiling.

"Um, I think I'll pass," Tony said inwardly flinching at the memory of the last time he had participated in a polo match, the summer he had stayed with Uncle Clive.

"Oh come now, Anthony, that was twenty years ago and plus Rigby has already passed away, I can assure you that the remaining horses are not as temperamental."

"Yeah, but even the memory is still hurts," Tony muttered under his breath before a yawn caught him.

"I forgot how late is there, get some rest, Anthony," Uncle Clive said.

"Good night, Uncle Clive, night Rose."

"Good night, Anthony."

"Night, Tony!"

--

_December 26_

"You know, you should really know better by now," Tony admonished from his seat on the hood of Jimmy's car. "The eggnog is _always_ stronger than your average eggnog."

"Don't remind me," Jimmy muttered, having a hangover was not the way he had wanted to spend Christmas morning. "Come on, Lauren hates it when people are late," he said before getting into his car.

"You okay to drive?"

"Not hungover now, Tony."

"I know but it's also extremely early," Tony reminded him. "Remind me again why you wanted to leave at six am?"

"Because Lauren said we had to be there for brunch, Tony, that's why. I just wish there was coffee."

"This will help," Tony said grabbing a cup of coffee from the roof of the car and handed it to a grateful Jimmy. Once the two men had finished their coffees they got into their cars and made the drive to Norfolk.

The minute they stepped into the house a small sandy haired blur in a pretty green holiday dress had thrown herself at Tony and Jimmy.

"Tony! Uncle Jimmy! You're here!" exclaimed a very excited three-year-old.

"Lizzy, how's my favorite girl?" asked Tony picking up the young girl.

"I drew a picture, wanna see?"

"Sure," replied Tony.

"Hey, how about me, don't I get a hug?" asked Jimmy after hanging up his coat. Lizzy just laughed and Tony handed her over to Jimmy.

"Hey, Kevin, how's it going?" asked Tony turning his attention to the ten-year-old, before he could answer Lauren and Tyler came to greet them.

"Lizzy, get down, you're much too heavy for that now," Lauren told her daughter.

"Hello to you too, sis," Jimmy said putting down his niece. Hey, Tyler. Merry Christmas."

"Hi, Jimmy, Merry Christmas to you too," she said giving him a hug. "You're late."

"Sorry, my fault had to make a pit stop," supplied Tony. "Hi, Lauren, hi, Tyler, Merry Christmas."

"Hi Tony, Merry Christmas, I'm so happy that you could come," she said pulling him into a hug as well. "Now come on, brunch awaits."

--

"So how's my little brother really doing, Tony?" asked Lauren when Tony found himself alone in the kitchen with Jimmy's sister.

"He's better," Tony told her truthfully, Lauren was aware about Jimmy's relationship with Lee and that she had died a couple of months ago.

"That's good to hear," she replied as she started to place some of the extra food from dinner into various Tupperware containers. "These are for you," she said indicating three containers, "if you want something else just tell me."

"You don't have to do that, Lauren."

"You need some real food in you, Tony, and no, pizza, take out and TV dinners don't count as real food."

"You sound like Ducky," he said.

"Well, maybe you should listen to him, he is a doctor," she reminded him smiling.

"Yeah, for dead people."

"And I'm a nurse for living people and totally agree with Ducky's assessment," she quipped.

The beeping of Tony's cell phone interrupted the pleasant atmosphere of the kitchen, it was Rose wishing him happy holidays and telling to think about what he and Uncle Clive talked about.

"Family?"

"Yeah, my cousin, Rose, she lives in England, she just wanted to tell me Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all that."

"Aww, that's sweet of her."

"I'm hoping to be able to visit her and her family next month; I have some vacation time saved up."

"You're not going to use it to visit your father instead?" she asked raising an eyebrow. "It's been a while since you've seen your father or your family there, right?"

Tony ran his hand through his hair, he hasn't seen his father in almost four years and they had hardly talked during the gap. He really didn't want to visit him and while he also hasn't seen his family in New York in the same amount of time he knew that if he went to visit them they'd find a way to get father and son in the same room to talk. Tony wanted to have fun his vacation and a confrontation with his father did not count as fun.

"You know, Tyler didn't have the best relationship with his father for the longest time either, lots of unresolved issues stemming from his childhood," Lauren commented as she spooned some food into a container.

Tony raised an eyebrow at that; issues from childhood was something he understood and he's pretty sure a therapist would agree with that, the entire psych department of NCIS seemed to be in perfect agreement on that fact when it came to him, they all pretty much said in one way or another that he had issues stemming from what was clearly a dysfunctional childhood and home environment.

"What changed?"

"Tyler was sent to Iraq and saw death in a much more up close and personal way than he ever expected. Sometimes they were able to save their patient and sometimes they weren't. It got him thinking about how many of those young men and women didn't get their chance to say what they needed to say to their family and friends and he decided that when he came back home he would make sure he got to tell his father what he needed to say."

'_Been there, done that'_ thought Tony, in the seven years that he had spent at NCIS he had been shot at, stabbed, nearly died of the plague, lost friends and colleagues in the line of duty, had numerous close calls with psychotic killers, faced down suspects who tended to be more dangerous than the average suspect and had seen the business end of a gun more times than he could count and that's not even including what happened to him in during the six years he had been a cop. While his father didn't know about every close call, every time a colleague was lost or injured in the line of duty he did know about the major incidents, thanks to the various family members that Tony actually liked and talked with on a semi-regular basis, and so far none of them had spurred him to do anything more than to make the obligatory five minute phone call to make sure that he was alive.

"Just think about it, Tony," Lauren said as she placed various containers into the fridge. "Your father might surprise you," she said using what Tony had dubbed her 'older sister voice' before heading back to the living room where Kevin was currently telling Jimmy about his latest soccer game.

Jimmy looked up when his sister came in and raised an eyebrow when he didn't see Tony right behind her.

"He'll be right out, I think he's thinking about making a phone call," she replied before taking her daughter from Jimmy's lap and placing her on her own lap.

"You know, one of these days he's going to realize that you're being the big sister even though you're two years younger than him," he commented.

"Yes, well, I think he secretly enjoys having a big sister."

--

Back in the kitchen Tony had been staring at his cell phone for the past ten minutes as if willing it to make the call itself but it didn't make the call. Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair as he thought about everything said in the past four days.

"_Chanukah is all about family, is it not the same with Christmas?"_

"_Please try, Tony."_

"_You know, it really is never too late, DiNozzo, I should know."_

"_Your father might surprise you."_

Decision made Tony quickly dialed the number before he could change his mind. As he waited for someone to pick up the phone he almost hung up but before he could his father picked up.

"Hello."

"Hi, Dad, it's me, Tony…"


	30. The Merits of Mercy

_Hey, sorry it's been a awhile but real life just got a bit more hectic since I started my new internship last week. For those of you reading 'The One That Got Away' I will try to get it updated sometime this weekend._

_So the subject of mercy killings tends to come into play when talking about people dying from terminal illnesses but, if I've interpreted the episode correctly, while Ducky was responsible for the death of Mosuma's brother it was an act of mercy since it seems that her brother would have been faced with a painful death._

_Spoilers: 6x13 'Broken Bird'  
_

_

* * *

_

_Mercy (n.) – lenient or compassionate treatment_

--

Jimmy rubbed his eyes tiredly; he had been staring at his notes for so long that the words no longer held any meaning to him, he could have been reading Japanese for all the good it was doing him. Glancing over at Tony Jimmy spotted the same glazed over expression that he was sure that he was sporting. He sighed, with the help of Tony he had been studying for close to four hours but he wasn't sure that he had absorbed any of the information.

--

"_What are you doing here?" Jimmy asked. He had been planning on going to the library to study but when he had opened his front door he found Tony standing there._

"_I'm here to help you study," Tony said before turning on his heel. "Let's go, Palmer," Tony called as he made his way the entrance of Jimmy's apartment building._

"_You don't have to you know," Jimmy said once they had found a table in a quiet corner of the George Washington University Library._

"_I know that but word on the street is that you could use some help and besides, it could be fun," Tony replied grinning as he took the note cards from Jimmy's hand. _

--

Four hours later Tony was wondering why the hell he thought helping Jimmy study for medical school would be fun. While science wasn't his forte he also wasn't awful at it, he had maintained grades higher than needed to stay on the football and basketball team at Ohio State and he actually liked his science classes back then, but this was just _**hard**_. At least now he understood why his frat brother Paul seemed to be perpetually caffeinated and frazzled while he was in medical school, he hadn't been that caffeinated or frazzled when they were undergrads and Tony actually semi-understood some of pre-med reading material.

"Do you want to go over it again?" asked Tony wearily, at the beginning of the study session Tony had been able to follow the material fairly well, with some helpful input and elaboration from Jimmy, but four hours later he was becoming more and more confused with each passing second.

"No," replied Jimmy, his voice muffled on account that his head was currently buried in his arms. "I could use a break."

'_Oh thank god'_, thought Tony. He had spent enough time around Duck to learn a thing or two about medicine but they had never gone into as much detail as Jimmy's classes seem to demand and while Ducky might have been tempted to give him a more technical medical explanation Tony was incredibly happy that Ducky had never done so.

It was a couple of more minutes before Jimmy finally broke the silence.

"Hey, Tony?"

"Hm?"

"It's about Doctor Mallard, is he…"

"Is he what, Jimmy?"

"Is he really guilty of war crimes?" asked Jimmy in a rush.

Ah, there it was, the question that Tony had been wondering when it would come up. Jimmy had been there when Mosuma Daoub had attacked Ducky but Tony had been unsure if someone had bothered to explain to Jimmy why his mentor had been stabbed by the Afghani woman. He had wanted to talk to Jimmy about it but had forgotten in all the excitement with trying to find Mr. Pain and the reason why Mosuma stabbed Ducky. He had wanted to get on top of it before Jimmy got the story, usually wildly exaggerated or just plain wrong, from the scuttlebutt but apparently he didn't make it in time.

"No, Jimmy, he isn't", Tony said quietly.

"Then why…"

"They dropped the charges against Ducky, Jimmy, but he was responsible for the death of Mosuma's brother."

"But Doctor Mallard wouldn't, I mean, it's in the oath and Doctor Mallard takes being a doctor seriously, he wouldn't, he just wouldn't," Jimmy replied firmly.

"Mosuma's brother didn't anything about troop movements but Mr. Pain tortured him anyway and every time he went back to Ducky and Ducky would fix him up but he'd come back again and again with the previously closed wounds opened again. Eventually he got an infection and Ducky made the decision to give him morphine for the pain, it was—"

"—An act of mercy," Jimmy finished quietly. They had covered the ethics of mercy killings, euthanasia, in his medical ethics class; it was an understandably controversial subject, one that Jimmy understood both sides of after watching his grandmother die from terminal pancreatic cancer as a teen.

"Yes," Tony replied just as quietly.

"There's just one thing I don't get."

"What's that, Jimmy?"

"If Mosuma's brother knew nothing why did Mr. Pain keep torturing him?"

"He wanted to break Ducky because he gave the refugees hope and hope made his job impossible but Ducky never broke," Tony said before the two lapsed into silence. "Hey, Jimmy?"

"Yeah?"

"This doesn't make Ducky a bad person, you know that, right?"

"Then what does it make him, Tony?"

"A man with a past," Tony replied evenly.

Jimmy didn't say anything and Tony interpreted it as the end of the conversation so he turned his attention to the note cards that he didn't understand instead.

"Hey Tony?"

"Hm?"

"Do you know why there isn't a 'J' street?"


	31. Trusting Your Gut

_Sorry for the really long time between updates, I had a hard time thinking of something and then life got busy with my time at my new internship. ^^;;  
_

_Spoilers: 6x16 'Bounce'_

_

* * *

_

It was later than usual when Jimmy finally left autopsy and he had a test on Friday that he really needed to study for but he made a detour to the squad room. It may nearly be nine o'clock but Jimmy would bet twenty dollars that Tony and possibly Agent Gibbs were still upstairs even though the work day had ended almost four hours ago. Sure enough when Jimmy stepped out of the elevator he saw Tony staring at something on his computer and while Gibbs wasn't anywhere to be seen Jimmy could still see his things at his desk so Gibbs was probably somewhere in the building.

"Did you find Renny?" asked Jimmy once he was standing in front of Tony's desk.

"Nope," Tony said looking over at Jimmy who had dragged Ziva's chair from her desk, "must have just missed him."

Jimmy stared at Tony intently, over the past three years Jimmy had gotten pretty good at learning to hear what Tony _wasn't_ saying because half the time what Tony wanted you to pick up on he wasn't saying, at least not out loud or in a direct manner. "Okay," he finally said.

Tony smiled, giving Jimmy the message that he had interpreted it correctly.

"What are you doing?" asked Jimmy craning his neck so that he could look at the computer screen. "Hey, isn't that the Patterson case?" asked Jimmy slightly confused when he saw the case file. It had been nearly three years since Jimmy had even thought about that particular case, it had been an open and shut case, no loose ends left dangling so why was Tony looking at it now?

"Yeah," Tony replied, eyes still glued to the computer screen.

"Um, any reason for the sudden interest in the Patterson case?"

"Just double checking a couple of things."

"Tony, you closed the case already," he reminded his friend.

"I know, I told you, Jimmy, I'm just double checking a few things," Tony replied.

"Okay… Anything in particular you were hoping to find?"

"Just anything that I might have missed the fist time around."

"Tony, stop."

"I will, once I finish double checking."

"I know what you're trying to do and I'm telling you that you should stop."

"And what am I doing, Jimmy?" asked Tony sharply.

"You're doing this because of what happened today," Jimmy replied flatly.

Tony finally tore his eyes away from the computer screen and Jimmy could finally see how the events of the day were wearing on the normally happy senior field agent.

"I put an innocent man in jail, Jimmy, for _three years_."

"Yeah, Tony, you did," Jimmy said and Tony dropped his gaze, "but you also made it right."

"How could I have missed that?"

Jimmy really didn't have an answer for that, at least not one that wouldn't sound like he was placing a large part of the blame on McGee when Tony had taken full responsibility earlier. Computer crimes were really more of McGee's specialty, Tony wasn't clueless about technology or the programs that they used on a daily basis but the intricacies that could come up in an electronic embezzling case were really something best left to McGee.

"I need to make sure that I didn't make the same sort of mistake with another case," he said as he opened up another case file, Jimmy saw that it was the Holedman case, another early case in Tony' tenure as team leader.

"Making a mistake sucks but you can't let it rule your life otherwise you'll second guess every decision you make and one day that indecision may cost a patient their quality of life or worse, get them killed."

"Who told you that?"

"A wise ER attending, at the end of the day she's the one responsible so she has to be certain of her decisions because the buck stops with her."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better, Jimmy?"

"Well, did it?" The unreadable look on Tony's face didn't give Jimmy an answer either way. "Well, it was worth a shot," he replied shrugging his shoulders.

"Is it enough?"

"Is what enough, Tony?"

"Trusting that you made the right decision."

"It has to be. Look, I'm not saying that there won't be days when you'll wonder and that there won't be times when you'll find out that you made a mistake but at the end of the day, trusting your own judgment has to be enough because those are the times when that's all you'll have to rely on," Jimmy said and after a few minutes Tony nodded slowly. "Come on, it's late, let's get out of here."

"Jimmy's right, DiNozzo, it's late, time to go home and I mean go home. Don't even think about coming back later tonight," Gibbs said striding into the squad room holding his ever present coffee cup.

"Come over and have a cup of coffee, I wasn't kidding when I said that I stocked up on Jamaican Mocha. I'll be downstairs, see you in fifteen?" asked Jimmy after returning Ziva's chair. When Tony nodded Jimmy smiled. "Good night, Agent Gibbs."

"Good night, Jimmy. "

"See you in fifteen, Tony."


	32. Some Tea and Sympathy

_So while I realize that drinking while on the clock is unprofessional and would most likely be grounds for firing that's the beauty of fiction, it doesn't have to line up with reality all the time and in my defense, it wasn't a lot of alcohol, probably just like half a shot._

_Spoilers: 2x23 'Twilight', 4x19 'Grace Period, 5x01 'Bury Your Dead', 6x17 'South by Southwest'_

_

* * *

_

_One month before 'South by Southwest'_

_4 AM_

The ringing of Tony's cell phone broke the pre-dawn silence of the bedroom and dragged him out of his deep slumber. A tanned hand shot out from under the covers and disappeared under them again with the offending object.

"DiNozzo," he mumbled sleepily, he really hoped that they didn't have a case; Gibbs had only let them go home at midnight last night after they had finally closed the Pierce case.

"Tony?" the voice on the other end was unquestionably female, nope, definitely not Gibbs. "I'm sorry; I forgot that it's still early over there."

"Rose, what's wrong?" asked Tony concerned as he reappeared from under his comforter, why did she sound like she had been crying? Instead of answering she sniffled and Tony though he heard her discreetly blow her nose. "Rose?" prompted Tony now really worried.

"There's no easy way to say this, Tony," she began.

"What is it, Rose? What's going on?"

"Tony, Uncle Clive's dead."

"What?"

"Uncle Clive is dead, Tony," Rose replied slowly.

"But I just saw him last month," Tony replied dumbly still unable to fully wrap his head around the fact that his uncle was dead.

"I know," Rose said quietly, voice thick with emotion, "it was all so sudden. One moment he was enjoying breakfast with Aunt Marjorie and the next he was…gone."

"How?"

"Heart attack."

"Oh."

"The doctors said that he wouldn't have been a lot of pain."

"I…I gotta go," Tony said suddenly.

"I'll get you the details for the wake and service later on today, okay?"

"Okay," Tony replied quietly.

Once Rose had hung up Tony swung out his left arm sending his alarm clock flying across the room.

--

Gibbs looked up when he heard the elevator door ding and saw his senior field agent trudge to his desk looking as if he had gotten no sleep that previous night. Gibbs raised an eyebrow at that, sure he had let them out late last night but he knew that Tony had gone home, he had specifically asked the security guards if Tony had come back after he told them all to go home and they all told him no, and the case had been long and frustrating and Gibbs knew from experience that Tony would have most likely been unconscious before his head hit his pillow. While he was curious Gibbs didn't ask any questions, he also knew from experience that if you wanted the truth out of Tony when it came to something personal you wouldn't get it by asking him outright about it, especially in public, you had to get him somewhere alone and either let him tell you in due time or work your way up to asking the questions you really wanted answered. So the two of them worked in companionable silence for close to half an hour, Gibbs would never admit it out loud but he cherished those rare moments when it was just him and Tony in their area, it reminded him of how it had all started. Fifteen minutes before McGee or Ziva were due to arrive Tony made his way over to Gibbs desk and slid a piece of paper across to him. Gibbs grabbed his glasses and perched them on his nose before picking up the paper, it was a leave request for this Thursday to next Monday. The former Marine raised an eyebrow, Tony hardly asked for days off and when he did he usually gave Gibbs more than two days notice, something was definitely wrong.

"Campfire," Gibbs said curtly as he made his way to Tony's 'conference room'. Once they had reached the area behind the staircase Gibbs finally managed to get a good look at his senior field agent, Tony was dressed in one of his best suits with the shoes to go with it and Gibbs was willing to bet that Tony's entire ensemble cost more than all his monthly alimony payments combined. Despite how put together Tony looked Gibbs saw the hint of red in his eyes as if he had been crying, something that he knew the younger man would deny because _'DiNozzos don't cry, Boss'_. Gibbs could always tell what kind of mood Tony was in by looking at his eyes and today they were a subdued moss green, Gibbs had only seen his eyes like that three times in the past: when Kate died, when Paula died and when Jeanne had left so Gibbs changed tactics. "Tony, what's going on?" asked Gibbs in a gentler tone than he would use with anyone else with the exception of Abby.

"My cousin Rose called me this morning, my Uncle Clive died this morning from a heart attack," Tony said quietly looking at everything but Gibbs.

It was a well established fact that Tony's relationship with his father was difficult at best and stormy at its worst and even his relationship with his father's side of the family tended to be strained due to the fact that they were always trying to get Tony and his father to work out their differences but what wasn't as well known was that Tony got along extremely well with his mother's side of his family. All Gibbs knew about Tony's mother was that she had died when he was younger and had apparently dressed him in sailor suits until he was ten but Gibbs suspected that his senior field agent adored his mother despite any flaws she might have had and from the few times he had managed to catch a part of Tony's Skype conversation with his relatives in England he assumed that his easy relationship with them was partly due to the love of a son for a mother. Before he could say anything the two of them heard Ziva and McGee arguing about something as they made their way to their desks so Gibbs settled for gently squeezing the Italian's shoulder before returning to their area.

Back at his desk Tony was extremely grateful that neither McGee nor Ziva had taken any notice in him yet, they were too engrossed in whatever they were doing. Tony was staring at his computer screen but not really seeing what was on it when Gibbs placed the form on his desk on his way for more coffee.

"You've got time on the books, Tony, if you need more time then take it," Gibbs said softly before disappearing. When Tony looked down he saw Gibbs' signature on the form.

--

Tony didn't know how long he had been sitting in a particularly deserted corner of the evidence garage before Jimmy found him but it must have been a while since he had stopped feeling how cold the concrete floor was.

"How'd you find me? I thought for sure Abby would get to me first."

"Lucky guess and the evidence garage is about the only place Abby hasn't looked yet," Jimmy said as he took a seat next to Tony. "I heard about your uncle, I'm sorry."

Tony just nodded.

"When do you leave?"

"Thursday, wake's on Friday and funeral's on Sunday."

"Don't worry about your place; I'll stop by on my way home and get your mail while you're gone."

"Thanks," he said before letting his head fall back against the wall.

"You okay?" Jimmy asked observing Tony out of the corner of his eye.

"I just wish that this day would end."

"Here, this will help," Jimmy said producing a cup of coffee before taking a small flask out of his jacket pocket.

Tony raised his eyebrows at that. "Does Ducky know you have his flask?"

"Nope, you plan on telling him that I borrowed it?"

"Nope."

"You know, it's barely noon," Tony said conversationally as he watched Jimmy pour a small amount into Tony's coffee cup.

"It's noon somewhere," Jimmy replied as he screwed the cap back on to the flask and slid it back into his jacket.

"Guess that works," Tony replied with a shrug before accepting the proffered coffee cup. "I'm gonna miss you, Uncle Clive," he said with a heavy sigh.


	33. What Friends Are For

_So first of all, my thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by the shooting at Fort Hood._

_So, I know that in 'Toxic' Tony and Jimmy were the ones who ended up doing some of the forensics work after McGee screwed it up but what exactly were they doing? It's been a while since I've seen that episode._

_Spoilers: slight spoilers to 6x20 'Dead Reckoning' and to the whole La Grenouille story arc_

_

* * *

_

"Have I ever told you how I hate the CIA?"

"You might have mentioned it once or twice," Jimmy replied as he took a seat on the floor next to Tony in a quiet corner of the evidence garage.

"So how'd you know where to find me?"

"I didn't."

Tony looked over at Jimmy with a confused look on his face.

"I passed two of the new evidence garage techs and one of the new probies in the hallway on the way back to autopsy; apparently you made an impression on them. I thought you said that you wanted to make a better first impression with the new evidence garage techs."

Tony winced. "Oh, yeah…remind me to apologize to them later, will you?"

"Okay."

"Is Gibbs looking for me yet?"

"I don't think so; McGee said that he was getting some coffee."

"Kort still up there?" asked Tony not even bothering to hide his bitterness at the fact that they were even helping the guy after everything he did.

"Yeah, Ziva and McGee are watching him upstairs."

"Good," Tony said with a slight edge in his voice. "I want this case to be over soon because otherwise I might actually kill Trent Kort."

"If you do, I'll help you hide the body and Abby said she'd help get rid of any forensic evidence, Trent Kort hasn't been her favorite person ever since the whole thing with…Jeanne."

"Thanks, Jimmy," Tony said with the first genuine smile he'd cracked all day. "Think Gibbs would be willing to provide us with an alibi?"

"Dunno but he might bail us out of jail."


	34. Education Requirements

_So to be a real NCIS agent you need to at least have a bachelor's degree but apparently to be in more senior positions, like Tony and Gibbs, you would actually need a master's degree, no word on how relevant it has to be to your job though. So in the spirit of keeping as much realism as possible I've decided that Tony would follow the education requirements for an NCIS agent and for the position of senior field agent. I know that I've mentioned Tony getting an MA in film studies in my series but he's not doing it to meet the education requirements, as I said Tony would have already met the education requirements to be a senior field agent, he's doing it really just for him because he likes the classes and subject._

_Spoilers: 6x21 'Toxic'  
_

_

* * *

_

"Well, that went well," Jimmy said after McGee had gone back up to the squad room to run Abby's background check, promising that he'd be back ASAP.

"Abby is so going to kill us and leave no forensic evidence," Tony groaned as he looked around at the mess made.

"I think that Abby will be the least of your worries because didn't you say Agent Gibbs wanted the DNA results like twenty minutes ago?"

Tony tensed up after glancing at the clock in Abby's lab. Shit. Gibbs could be back any minute now and if the process of getting DNA results wasn't at least started by then Abby would have to find a voodoo priestess to resurrect him before she could kill him for destroying her lab.

"Want some help?" asked Jimmy already heading towards the cabinet to get some more gel.

"Yes," Tony replied as he joined Jimmy at the cabinet to grab the necessary supplies.

--

"Jimmy, Tony, you two can leave," Abby said after they had been cleaning the lab for nearly an hour and a half. "Not you, McGee," she continued, not looking up for her magazine.

Tony didn't even try to hide his smirk as McGee returned to cleaning, completely resentful that Tony and Jimmy were getting off early when he wasn't. Really it served the probie right; it was his fault that they had to clean up the lab anyway. If McGee had just listened to him in the first place this whole mess could have been avoided.

"Next time listen to Tony, McGee," Abby said walking out of her office to inspect his work.

The smirk on Tony's face widened just a bit more and he quickly made his way to the elevator with Jimmy right behind him.

"Think she'll tell him?" asked Jimmy once the elevator had started to move.

"Nope."

"Are you ever going to tell him?"

"Really you'd think that a guy who has the whole NCIS handbook memorized, because you know that McGoo was one of _those_ agents, would have seen that in the education requirements for senior agents."

"So that would be a no."

"That would be a no."


	35. Not With A Bang But A Whimper

_So this is the last chapter, we've finally reached the end of this series. Thanks to all those who've read, reviewed, and added this to their alerts and favorites. We've just started season seven so be on the look out for a series on that as well as some off shoots from this series.  
_

_Spoilers: 6x22 'Legends Part 1', 6x23 'Legends Part 2', 6x24 'Semper Fidelis', 6x25 'Aliyah'_

_

* * *

_

Jimmy pulled into the parking lot hoping that this time, unlike the four other places he had already checked, Tony would be here because he was running out of ideas and Abby was starting to panic. Once he stepped inside he immediately looked towards the bar where he saw a dark haired man but he was too far away to positively say it was Tony. Before he even made it halfway to the bar Cheryl came forward and pulled him aside.

"Oh thank god you're here; I was just about to call Gibbs."

Jimmy cringed; if Cheryl had progressed from just calling Tony a cab to calling Gibbs then it was bad.

"How long?"

"Too long," she said as she led him towards the bar. "He keeps talking about Ziva. Jimmy, what happened? Where's Ziva? I tried calling her but it says that her phone is out of area."

"She's…gone," Jimmy said after a slight hesitation.

"What? Why? When's she coming back?" Cheryl asked after stopping and turning around to face Jimmy.

This time Jimmy hesitated more, while he was privy to the whole story from Tony's suspicions of Michael Rivkin, Tony's confrontation with Rivkin that ended with Tony killing him, to the trip to Israel, and even Tony's conversation with Eli David and subsequent confrontation with Ziva he still wasn't exactly clear on what happened those last few moments on the tarmac that ended with Director Vance, Gibbs and Tony coming back one short. Cheryl and Michael were nice but Jimmy couldn't tell them everything, he wasn't even sure he could give them an outline because this was big; this had the potential for causing many problems if details ever got out.

"Something happened at work didn't it, something major?" Cheryl asked after watching Jimmy silently struggle about what, if anything, he could tell her.

"Yes," he said relieved that she had given him an out. He should realized that she would understand the need for secrecy, her family had a long history in the military and she had been a soldier herself before opening up the bar.

"Ziva's not coming back, is she?"

"I don't know," he replied truthfully.

"Poor Tony," Cheryl said quietly as she glanced over at the bar where Tony was downing yet another shot under the disapproving gaze of Michael.

Jimmy couldn't disagree with that statement; it was a well known fact that Tony and Ziva were close, closer than most partners. In fact, the whole office, and most of the Navy Yard for that matter, had a betting pool about whether or not Tony and Ziva have hooked up for real. Jimmy knew for a fact that they hadn't because while Tony might find Ziva hot and despite their undeniable connection Tony held Gibbs' opinion in too high regard to intentionally break a rule like rule twelve.

"I think you should take him home now, Jimmy, a bar is the last place he needs to be," Cheryl continued quietly. Jimmy nodded and followed Cheryl.

"Hey. Tony," Jimmy said easing himself onto the barstool next to him. "Don't you think you've had enough?" he asked as he gently took the still full glass out of his hand.

"She's gone, Jimmy, why'd she stay in Israel?" Tony asked drunkenly.

"I don't know, Tony. Come on, let's get you home," he said as he, with the help of Michael, pulled Tony off his stool and steadied him as he staggered backwards. "Did he take anything?" he asked Michael.

"You mean besides the copious amounts of alcohol?"

"Yes, he was given a prescription for pain medication at the hospital for his arm and I know that both Doctor Mallard and Gibbs have been making sure that he takes it."

Oh yeah, here it is," said Michael reaching into his pant pocket. "I saw him holding it but if he was going to drink then I sure wasn't about to let him take any," he replied handing the prescription bottle to Jimmy.

"Thanks," Jimmy said pocketing the bottle. "Do you mind?" he asking nodding slightly in the direction of the door.

"No, not at all."

"Jimmy, you make sure that he gets home okay," Cheryl said the trio walked past her.

"Don't worry, Cheryl, I'll take care of him."

"Sorry about all this, Mike," Jimmy said sheepishly after he managed to get Tony into his car.

"It's okay, Jimmy, I've seen worse. You just make sure that he's okay tonight, alright?"

--

Jimmy managed to get Tony up his front steps and set up in the spare bedroom without any incident other than Tony's drunk babbling.

"She didn't believe me. Why didn't she believe me?" his friend asked him distraught.

"I don't know, Tony," he replied quietly. "Get some sleep, it's late."

"I miss her…"Tony murmured quietly.

Once in the living room Jimmy let his body fall on the comfortable couch with a heavy sigh. Everything was a mess. A Mossad operative was dead by Tony's hand, Ziva was back in Israel and not talking to Tony and Tony was upset and demanding to know why his partner of four years, one of the few people he trusted and connected with, didn't trust him anymore. He had once asked Dr. Mallard why he thought Tony and Ziva were so close and the elderly medical examiner has just smiled at his young assistant before answering.

--

_Tell me, Mr. Palmer, do you happen to know what Anthony's father does for a living?"_

"_He's a business man."_

"_And a very successful one at that and you're, of course, aware that Ziva's father is the director of Mossad."_

"_Yes, but, Doctor, what does this have to do with Tony and Ziva?"_

"_Nothing and everything, Mr. Palmer."_

"_I don't follow, Doctor."_

"_Despite how very different Tony and Ziva's upbringing may have been from each other there is at least one common thread and that thread would be the personalities of their fathers. At first glance it would seem that business man a politician would have very little in common that is where you'd be wrong, Mr. Palmer, in order to be such a successful business man and to become the head of a national intelligence agency one needs ambition, drive and a certain amount of ruthlessness. Often times the ones who bear the brunt of the negative aspects of such personality traits are their families so you see, Mr. Palmer, even though there are differences in their upbringing what they have in common can override those differences."_

"_So you think that that explains why they are so close?"_

"_Well, it's one explanation, Mr. Palmer, it's one explanation."_

--

The ringing of Tony's cell phone brought Jimmy back to present and Jimmy scrambled to find it.

"Agent DiNozzo's phone," Jimmy said in way of greeting.

"Palmer, why do you have DiNozzo's phone?" demanded Gibbs. "Where is he?"

"He's asleep right now and should be for the rest of the night, I picked him up from Mike's."

Jimmy heard the former Marine swear.

"Did he take those pills too?"

"No, Mike took them when he got there and then gave them to me; they're sitting on his bedside table right now."

"Good," said Gibbs relieved.

"Agent Gibbs, do you want to come over? I was gonna stay for a while but if you want then you can."

Jimmy was met with silence for almost five minutes before Gibbs answered him. "No, Jimmy, I think you'd better stay, I'm not the person Tony wants to see right now," he said wearily and Jimmy thought that the former Marine sounded older than he had last week.


End file.
